I
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 454
To protect children against sexual abuse and exploitation, and for other
purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY24, 2023
Mr. B
URCHETT(for himself and Mr. CUELLAR) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To protect children against sexual abuse and exploitation,
and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Preventing Child Sex 4
Abuse Act of 2023’’. 5
SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 6
The sense of Congress is the following: 7
(1) The safety of children should be a top pri-8
ority for public officials and communities in the 9
United States. 10
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(2) According to the Rape, Abuse & Incest Na-1
tional Network, an individual in the United States is 2
sexually assaulted every 68 seconds. And every 9 3
minutes, that victim is a child. Meanwhile, only 25 4
out of every 1,000 perpetrators will end up in pris-5
on. 6
(3) The effects of child sexual abuse can be 7
long-lasting and affect the victim’s mental health. 8
(4) Victims are more likely than non-victims to 9
experience the following mental health challenges: 10
(A) Victims are about 4 times more likely 11
to develop symptoms of drug abuse. 12
(B) Victims are about 4 times more likely 13
to experience post-traumatic stress disorder as 14
adults. 15
(C) Victims are about 3 times more likely 16
to experience a major depressive episode as 17
adults. 18
(5) The criminal justice system should and has 19
acted as an important line of defense to protect chil-20
dren and hold perpetrators accountable. 21
(6) However, the horrific crimes perpetuated by 22
Larry Nassar demonstrate firsthand the loopholes 23
that still exist in the criminal justice system. While 24
Larry Nassar was found guilty of several State-level 25
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offenses, he was not charged federally for his illicit 1
sexual contact with minors, despite crossing State 2
and international borders to commit this conduct. 3
(7) The Department of Justice has also identi-4
fied a growing trend of Americans who use chari-5
table or missionary work in a foreign country as a 6
cover for sexual abuse of children. 7
(8) It is the intent of Congress to prohibit 8
Americans from engaging in sexual abuse or exploi-9
tation of minors under the guise of work, including 10
volunteer work, with an organization that affects 11
interstate or foreign commerce, such as an inter-12
national charity. 13
(9) Federal law does not require that an abus-14
er’s intention to engage in sexual abuse be a pri-15
mary, significant, dominant, or motivating purpose 16
of the travel. 17
(10) Child sexual abuse does not require phys-18
ical contact between the abuser and the child. This 19
is especially true as perpetrators turn increasingly to 20
internet platforms, online chat rooms, and webcams 21
to commit child sexual abuse. 22
(11) However, a decision of the United States 23
Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit found the 24
use of a webcam to engage in sexually provocative 25
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activity with a minor did not qualify as ‘‘sexual ac-1
tivity’’. 2
(12) Congress can address this issue by amend-3
ing the definition of the term ‘‘sexual activity’’ to 4
clarify that it does not require interpersonal, phys-5
ical contact. 6
(13) It is the duty of Congress to provide clear-7
er guidance to ensure that those who commit crimes 8
against children are prosecuted to the fullest extent 9
of the law. 10
SEC. 3. INTERSTATE CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE. 11
Section 2423 of title 18, United States Code, is 12
amended— 13
(1) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘with a moti-14
vating purpose of engaging in any illicit sexual con-15
duct with another person’’ and inserting ‘‘with in-16
tent to engage in any illicit sexual conduct with an-17
other person’’; 18
(2) by redesignating subsections (d), (e), (f), 19
and (g) as subsections (e), (f), (g), and (i), respec-20
tively; 21
(3) in subsection (e), as so redesignated, by 22
striking ‘‘with a motivating purpose of engaging in 23
any illicit sexual conduct’’ and inserting ‘‘with intent 24
to engage in any illicit sexual conduct’’; and 25
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(4) by inserting after subsection (g), as so re-1
designated, the following: 2
‘‘(h) R
ULE OFCONSTRUCTION.—As used in this sec-3
tion, the term ‘intent’ shall be construed as any intention 4
to engage in illicit sexual conduct at the time of the trav-5
el.’’. 6
SEC. 4. ABUSE UNDER THE GUISE OF CHARITY. 7
Section 2423 of title 18, United States Code, as 8
amended by section 3 of this Act, is amended— 9
(1) by inserting after subsection (c) the fol-10
lowing: 11
‘‘(d) I
LLICITSEXUALCONDUCT IN CONNECTION 12
W
ITHCERTAINORGANIZATIONS.—Any citizen of the 13
United States or alien admitted for permanent residence 14
who— 15
‘‘(1) is an officer, director, employee, or agent 16
of an organization that affects interstate or foreign 17
commerce; 18
‘‘(2) makes use of the mails or any means or 19
instrumentality of interstate or foreign commerce 20
through the connection or affiliation of the person 21
with such organization; and 22
‘‘(3) commits an act in furtherance of illicit sex-23
ual conduct through the connection or affiliation of 24
the person with such organization, 25
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shall be fined under this title, imprisoned for not more 1
than 30 years, or both.’’; 2
(2) in subsection (f), as so redesignated, by 3
striking ‘‘or (d)’’ and inserting ‘‘(d), or (e)’’; and 4
(3) in subsection (i), as so redesignated, by 5
striking ‘‘(f)(2)’’ and inserting ‘‘(g)(2)’’. 6
SEC. 5. SEXUAL ACTIVITY WITH MINORS. 7
Section 2427 of title 18, United States Code, is 8
amended by inserting ‘‘does not require interpersonal 9
physical contact, and’’ before ‘‘includes’’. 10
Æ
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