Us Congress 2023-2024 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB454 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

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1	1	I
2	2	118THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 454
5	5	To protect children against sexual abuse and exploitation, and for other
6	6	purposes.
7	7	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
8	8	JANUARY24, 2023
9	9	Mr. B
10	10	URCHETT(for himself and Mr. CUELLAR) introduced the following bill;
11	11	which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
12	12	A BILL
13	13	To protect children against sexual abuse and exploitation,
14	14	and for other purposes.
15	15	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
16	16	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
17	17	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
18	18	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Preventing Child Sex 4
19	19	Abuse Act of 2023’’. 5
20	20	SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 6
21	21	The sense of Congress is the following: 7
22	22	(1) The safety of children should be a top pri-8
23	23	ority for public officials and communities in the 9
24	24	United States. 10
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28	28	(2) According to the Rape, Abuse & Incest Na-1
29	29	tional Network, an individual in the United States is 2
30	30	sexually assaulted every 68 seconds. And every 9 3
31	31	minutes, that victim is a child. Meanwhile, only 25 4
32	32	out of every 1,000 perpetrators will end up in pris-5
33	33	on. 6
34	34	(3) The effects of child sexual abuse can be 7
35	35	long-lasting and affect the victim’s mental health. 8
36	36	(4) Victims are more likely than non-victims to 9
37	37	experience the following mental health challenges: 10
38	38	(A) Victims are about 4 times more likely 11
39	39	to develop symptoms of drug abuse. 12
40	40	(B) Victims are about 4 times more likely 13
41	41	to experience post-traumatic stress disorder as 14
42	42	adults. 15
43	43	(C) Victims are about 3 times more likely 16
44	44	to experience a major depressive episode as 17
45	45	adults. 18
46	46	(5) The criminal justice system should and has 19
47	47	acted as an important line of defense to protect chil-20
48	48	dren and hold perpetrators accountable. 21
49	49	(6) However, the horrific crimes perpetuated by 22
50	50	Larry Nassar demonstrate firsthand the loopholes 23
51	51	that still exist in the criminal justice system. While 24
52	52	Larry Nassar was found guilty of several State-level 25
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55	55	•HR 454 IH
56	56	offenses, he was not charged federally for his illicit 1
57	57	sexual contact with minors, despite crossing State 2
58	58	and international borders to commit this conduct. 3
59	59	(7) The Department of Justice has also identi-4
60	60	fied a growing trend of Americans who use chari-5
61	61	table or missionary work in a foreign country as a 6
62	62	cover for sexual abuse of children. 7
63	63	(8) It is the intent of Congress to prohibit 8
64	64	Americans from engaging in sexual abuse or exploi-9
65	65	tation of minors under the guise of work, including 10
66	66	volunteer work, with an organization that affects 11
67	67	interstate or foreign commerce, such as an inter-12
68	68	national charity. 13
69	69	(9) Federal law does not require that an abus-14
70	70	er’s intention to engage in sexual abuse be a pri-15
71	71	mary, significant, dominant, or motivating purpose 16
72	72	of the travel. 17
73	73	(10) Child sexual abuse does not require phys-18
74	74	ical contact between the abuser and the child. This 19
75	75	is especially true as perpetrators turn increasingly to 20
76	76	internet platforms, online chat rooms, and webcams 21
77	77	to commit child sexual abuse. 22
78	78	(11) However, a decision of the United States 23
79	79	Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit found the 24
80	80	use of a webcam to engage in sexually provocative 25
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83	83	•HR 454 IH
84	84	activity with a minor did not qualify as ‘‘sexual ac-1
85	85	tivity’’. 2
86	86	(12) Congress can address this issue by amend-3
87	87	ing the definition of the term ‘‘sexual activity’’ to 4
88	88	clarify that it does not require interpersonal, phys-5
89	89	ical contact. 6
90	90	(13) It is the duty of Congress to provide clear-7
91	91	er guidance to ensure that those who commit crimes 8
92	92	against children are prosecuted to the fullest extent 9
93	93	of the law. 10
94	94	SEC. 3. INTERSTATE CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE. 11
95	95	Section 2423 of title 18, United States Code, is 12
96	96	amended— 13
97	97	(1) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘with a moti-14
98	98	vating purpose of engaging in any illicit sexual con-15
99	99	duct with another person’’ and inserting ‘‘with in-16
100	100	tent to engage in any illicit sexual conduct with an-17
101	101	other person’’; 18
102	102	(2) by redesignating subsections (d), (e), (f), 19
103	103	and (g) as subsections (e), (f), (g), and (i), respec-20
104	104	tively; 21
105	105	(3) in subsection (e), as so redesignated, by 22
106	106	striking ‘‘with a motivating purpose of engaging in 23
107	107	any illicit sexual conduct’’ and inserting ‘‘with intent 24
108	108	to engage in any illicit sexual conduct’’; and 25
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111	111	•HR 454 IH
112	112	(4) by inserting after subsection (g), as so re-1
113	113	designated, the following: 2
114	114	‘‘(h) R
115	115	ULE OFCONSTRUCTION.—As used in this sec-3
116	116	tion, the term ‘intent’ shall be construed as any intention 4
117	117	to engage in illicit sexual conduct at the time of the trav-5
118	118	el.’’. 6
119	119	SEC. 4. ABUSE UNDER THE GUISE OF CHARITY. 7
120	120	Section 2423 of title 18, United States Code, as 8
121	121	amended by section 3 of this Act, is amended— 9
122	122	(1) by inserting after subsection (c) the fol-10
123	123	lowing: 11
124	124	‘‘(d) I
125	125	LLICITSEXUALCONDUCT IN CONNECTION 12
126	126	W
127	127	ITHCERTAINORGANIZATIONS.—Any citizen of the 13
128	128	United States or alien admitted for permanent residence 14
129	129	who— 15
130	130	‘‘(1) is an officer, director, employee, or agent 16
131	131	of an organization that affects interstate or foreign 17
132	132	commerce; 18
133	133	‘‘(2) makes use of the mails or any means or 19
134	134	instrumentality of interstate or foreign commerce 20
135	135	through the connection or affiliation of the person 21
136	136	with such organization; and 22
137	137	‘‘(3) commits an act in furtherance of illicit sex-23
138	138	ual conduct through the connection or affiliation of 24
139	139	the person with such organization, 25
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143	143	shall be fined under this title, imprisoned for not more 1
144	144	than 30 years, or both.’’; 2
145	145	(2) in subsection (f), as so redesignated, by 3
146	146	striking ‘‘or (d)’’ and inserting ‘‘(d), or (e)’’; and 4
147	147	(3) in subsection (i), as so redesignated, by 5
148	148	striking ‘‘(f)(2)’’ and inserting ‘‘(g)(2)’’. 6
149	149	SEC. 5. SEXUAL ACTIVITY WITH MINORS. 7
150	150	Section 2427 of title 18, United States Code, is 8
151	151	amended by inserting ‘‘does not require interpersonal 9
152	152	physical contact, and’’ before ‘‘includes’’. 10
153	153	Æ
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