Child Support Recovery Act
Not
all crimes against children involve physical violence.
Some, such as the failure to pay child support, effect
the economic well-being of the child. The Child Support
Recovery Act (CSRA) of 1992, makes the willful failure
to pay a past due support obligation with respect
to a child residing in another state a federal misdemeanor
offense. The Deadbeat Parents Punishment Act (DDPA)
of 1998, amended the CSRA of 1992. The DPPA established
felony violations for traveling in interstate or
foreign commerce to evade a child support obligation
or for failing to pay a child support obligation
which is greater than $10,000 or has remained unpaid
for a period longer than two years. Previously, child
support cases involved only a misdemeanor violation
with a penalty of less than one year imprisonment.
When
the CSRA became law in 1992, the FBI was given primary
investigative jurisdiction. However, Special Agents
of the Office of Investigations in the Office of
the Inspector General, United States Department of
Health and Human Services (DHHS), have also been
given authority to investigate violations of the
CSRA. Attorney General Janet Reno updated CSRA prosecutive
guidelines and procedures to be followed by Department
of Justice personnel in the enforcement of the CSRA.
The guidelines make the United States Attorney in
each judicial district responsible for determining
which cases will be selected for investigation and
prosecution. The FBI cannot accept individual complaints
from lawyers, advocacy groups, or from individual
citizens. According to the AG guidelines, the FBI
can only open cases upon referral from a United States
Attorney's Office (USAO).
The Attorney
General's guidelines are intended to ensure effective
prosecution of the CSRA by providing a means for
selecting egregious cases which states are unable
to handle because of the interstate nature of the
case or in which federal prosecution is deemed more
appropriate. As a general principle, cases are usually
accepted only when the referral clearly indicates
that all reasonable and available remedies at the
state level have been exhausted. Among such cases,
priority is given to those where the following is
established:
- a
pattern of interstate flight to avoid payment or
flight after service of process for contempt or
contempt hearings;
- a
pattern of deception to avoid payment, such as
changing employment, concealing assets or location,
or using false names and/or social security account
numbers;
- failure
to make support payments after being held in contempt;
- particular
circumstances exist which dictate the need for
immediate federal intervention, such as where the
custodial parent and/or child have special medical
needs or where the custodial family is in danger
of eviction and homelessness;
- when
the failure to make child support payments has
a nexus to other potential federal charges, such
as bankruptcy fraud, bank fraud, federal income
tax charges or other related criminal conduct;
and
- priority
may also be given to those cases where the children
of the non-paying parent are still minors.
Through
participation in a Department of Justice Interagency
Child Support Working Group, the FBI has taken an
active role in the implementation and operation of
the Project Save Our Children (PSOC) Task Force.
The PSOC concept is a multi-agency task force lead
by DHHS and is comprised of the FBI, U.S. Marshal's
Service, USAO, state and local law enforcement, regionally-located
investigators, and child support agencies.
The mission
of PSOC is to increase child support collections
by identifying, analyzing, investigating, prosecuting,
and evaluating the outcomes of the most flagrant
criminal non-support cases. The long-term goal is
to create a nationwide, comprehensive and coordinated
health and human services and criminal justice response
to unresolved interstate and intrastate child support
enforcement cases. Each PSOC Task Force screens cases
referred by state USAOs. Extensive background investigations
are conducted on selected cases to provide a complete
referral package to the agency tasked with conducting
the follow-up investigation. After the screening
and financial investigation, the cases are referred
to participating agencies for investigation and prosecution
based on established criteria.
Individual
FBI Field Offices serve as primary points of contact
for persons requesting FBI assistance. For further
information about FBI services or to request assistance,
please contact a Crimes Against Children Coordinator
at your local FBI Field Office.