Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 103 Part 1.djvu/661

 PUBLIC LAW 101-97—SEPT. 23, 1989 103 STAT. 633 Public Law 101-97 101st Congress An Act To amend the District of Columbia C!ode to limit the length of time for which an individual may be incarcerated for civil contempt in the course of a child custody case in the courts of the District of Columbia, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SFXTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the "District of Columbia Civil Contempt Imprisonment Limitation Act of 1989". SEC. 2. LIMITATION ON TERM OF INCARCERATION IMPOSED FOR CIVIL CONTEMPT IN CHILD CUSTODY CASES. (a) SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.— Section 11-944 of the District of Columbia Code is amended— (1) by striking "In addition" and inserting "(a) Subject to the limitation described in subsection (b), and in addition"; and (2) by adding at the end the following new subsection: "(b)(1) In any proceeding for custody of a minor child conducted in the Family Division of the Superior Court under paragraph (1) or (4) of section 11-1101, no individual may be imprisoned for civil contempt for more than 12 months (except as provided in paragraph (2)), pursuant to the contempt power described in subsection (a), for disobedience of an order or for contempt committed in the presence of the court. This limitation does not apply to imprisonment for criminal contempt or for any other criminal violation. "(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (1), an individ- ual who is charged with criminal contempt pursuant to paragraph (3) may continue to be imprisoned for civil contempt until the completion of such individual's trial for criminal contempt, except that in no case may such an individual be imprisoned for more than 18 consecutive months for civil contempt pursuant to the contempt power described in subsection (a). "(3)(A) An individual imprisoned for 6 consecutive months for civil contempt for disobedience of an order in a proceeding described in paragraph (1) who continues to disobey such order may be pros- ecuted for criminal contempt for disobedience of such order at any time before the expiration of the 12-month period that begins on the first day of such individual's imprisonment, except that an individual so imprisoned as of the date of the enactment of this subsection may be prosecuted under this subsection at any time during the 90-day period that begins on the date of the enactment of this subsection. "(B) The trial of an individual prosecuted for criminal contempt pursuant to this paragraph— "(i) shall begin not later than 90 days after the date on which such individual is charged with criminal contempt; "(ii) shall, upon the request of the individual, be a trial by jury; and Sept. 23, 1989 [H.R. 2136] District of Columbia Civil Contempt Imprisonment Limitation Act of 1989.

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