II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 1333
To amend title 18, United States Code, to modify provisions relating to
kidnapping, sexual abuse, and illicit sexual conduct with respect to minors.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
APRIL8, 2025
Mr. C
ORNYN(for himself and Mr. BOOKER) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To amend title 18, United States Code, to modify provisions
relating to kidnapping, sexual abuse, and illicit sexual
conduct with respect to minors.
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 ‘‘Strengthening Child 4
Exploitation Enforcement Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. KIDNAPPING; SEXUAL ABUSE; ILLICIT SEXUAL CON-6
DUCT WITH RESPECT TO MINORS. 7
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Part I of title 18, United States 8
Code, is amended— 9
(1) in section 1201— 10
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(A) in subsection (a), in the matter pre-1
ceding paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘obtains by 2
defrauding or deceiving any person,’’ after ‘‘ab-3
ducts,’’; 4
(B) in subsection (b), by inserting ‘‘ob-5
tained by defrauding or deceiving any person,’’ 6
after ‘‘abducted,’’; and 7
(C) in subsection (g), by adding at the end 8
the following: 9
‘‘(2) D
EFENSE.—For an offense described in 10
this subsection involving a victim who has not at-11
tained the age of 16 years, it is not a defense that 12
the victim consented to the conduct of the offender, 13
unless the offender can establish by a preponderance 14
of the evidence that the offender reasonably believed 15
that the victim had attained the age of 16 years.’’; 16
(2) in chapter 109A— 17
(A) in section 2241(c), by striking ‘‘crosses 18
a State line’’ and inserting ‘‘travels in inter-19
state or foreign commerce’’; 20
(B) in section 2242(3), by striking ‘‘, to 21
include doing so’’ and inserting ‘‘or’’; 22
(C) in section 2243, by adding at the end 23
the following: 24
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‘‘(f) INTENTIONALTOUCHINGINVOLVINGINDIVID-1
UALSUNDER THEAGE OF16.— 2
‘‘(1) O
FFENSE.—It shall be unlawful, in the 3
special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the 4
United States or in a Federal prison, or in any pris-5
on, institution, or facility in which persons are held 6
in custody by direction of or pursuant to a contract 7
or agreement with the head of any Federal depart-8
ment or agency, to knowingly cause the intentional 9
touching, not through the clothing, of the genitalia 10
of any person by a person who has not attained the 11
age of 16 years, with an intent to abuse, humiliate, 12
harass, degrade, or arouse or gratify the sexual de-13
sire of any person, or attempt to do so, if to do so 14
would violate subsection (a), (b), or (c) of this sec-15
tion, section 2241, or section 2242 had such inten-16
tional touching been a sexual act. 17
‘‘(2) P
ENALTY.—Any person who violates para-18
graph (1) shall be fined under this title, imprisoned 19
as provided in the applicable provision of law de-20
scribed in that paragraph, or both.’’; and 21
(D) in section 2244— 22
(i) in subsection (a)— 23
(I) by redesignating paragraphs 24
(1) through (6) as subparagraphs (A) 25
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through (F), respectively, and adjust-1
ing the margins accordingly; 2
(II) by striking ‘‘Whoever’’ and 3
inserting the following: 4
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Whoever’’; 5
(III) in paragraph (1), as so des-6
ignated— 7
(aa) in the matter preceding 8
subparagraph (A), as so redesig-9
nated, by striking ‘‘if so to do’’ 10
and inserting ‘‘if to do so’’; 11
(bb) in subparagraph (A), as 12
so redesignated, by striking 13
‘‘ten’’ and inserting ‘‘10’’; 14
(cc) in subparagraph (B), as 15
so redesignated, by striking 16
‘‘three’’ and inserting ‘‘3’’; 17
(dd) in subparagraph (C), as 18
so redesignated, by striking 19
‘‘two’’ and inserting ‘‘2’’; 20
(ee) in subparagraph (D), as 21
so redesignated, by striking 22
‘‘two’’ and inserting ‘‘2’’; and 23
(ff) in subparagraph (F), as 24
so redesignated, by striking the 25
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semicolon at the end and insert-1
ing a period; and 2
(IV) by adding at the end the fol-3
lowing: 4
‘‘(2) A
TTEMPT.—Whoever attempts to commit 5
an offense under paragraph (1) shall be subject to 6
the same penalty as for a completed offense.’’; 7
(ii) in subsection (b)— 8
(I) by inserting ‘‘or causes’’ after 9
‘‘engages in’’; 10
(II) by inserting ‘‘or by’’ after 11
‘‘sexual contact with’’; 12
(III) by inserting ‘‘, or attempts 13
to do so,’’ after ‘‘other person’s per-14
mission’’; and 15
(IV) by striking ‘‘two’’ and in-16
serting ‘‘2’’; and 17
(iii) in subsection (c), by striking ‘‘If 18
the sexual contact that violates this section 19
(other than subsection (a)(5)) is with an 20
individual’’ and inserting ‘‘If the sexual 21
contact or attempted sexual contact that a 22
person engages in or causes in violation of 23
this section (other than subsection 24
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(a)(1)(E)) is with or by an individual’’; 1
and 2
(3) in section 2423(g)(1)— 3
(A) by striking ‘‘a sexual act (as defined in 4
section 2246) with’’ and inserting ‘‘any conduct 5
involving’’; and 6
(B) by striking ‘‘sexual act occurred’’ and 7
inserting ‘‘conduct occurred’’. 8
(b) E
FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendment to section 9
2241(c) of title 18, United States Code, made by sub-10
section (a) shall apply to conduct that occurred before, on, 11
or after the date of enactment of this Act. 12
SEC. 3. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS RELATING TO ABU-13
SIVE SEXUAL CONTACT. 14
(a) P
ENALTIES FORCIVILRIGHTSOFFENSESIN-15
VOLVINGSEXUALMISCONDUCT.—Section 250(b) of title 16
18, United States Code, is amended— 17
(1) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘section 18
2244(a)(5),’’ and inserting ‘‘section 2244(a)(1)(E), 19
or an attempt to engage in or cause such contact as 20
prohibited by section 2244(a)(2),’’; 21
(2) in paragraph (4), in the matter preceding 22
subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘subsection (a)(1) or 23
(b) of section 2244, but excluding abusive sexual 24
contact through the clothing’’ and inserting ‘‘section 25
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2244(a)(1)(A), an attempt to engage in or cause 1
such contact as prohibited by section 2244(a)(2), or 2
abusive sexual contact of the type prohibited by sec-3
tion 2244(b), but excluding abusive sexual contact 4
through the clothing or an attempt to engage in or 5
cause such contact’’; 6
(3) in paragraph (5), in the matter preceding 7
subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘section 2244(a)(2)’’ 8
and inserting ‘‘section 2244(a)(1)(B) or an attempt 9
to engage in or cause such contact as prohibited by 10
section 2244(a)(2)’’; and 11
(4) in paragraph (6), in the matter preceding 12
subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘subsection (a)(3), 13
(a)(4), or (b) of section 2244’’ and inserting ‘‘sub-14
paragraph (C) or (D) of section 2244(a)(1), an at-15
tempt to engage in or cause such contact as prohib-16
ited by section 2244(a)(2), or abusive sexual contact 17
of the type prohibited by section 2244(b)’’. 18
(b) S
ENTENCINGCLASSIFICATION OFOFFENSES.— 19
Section 3559 of title 18, United States Code, is amend-20
ed— 21
(1) in subsection (c)(2)(F)(i), by striking ‘‘sec-22
tions 2244(a)(1) and (a)(2)’’ and inserting ‘‘sub-23
paragraphs (A) and (B) of section 2244(a)(1)’’; and 24
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(2) in subsection (e)(2)(A), by striking 1
‘‘2244(a)(1)’’ and inserting ‘‘2244(a)(1)(A)’’. 2
Æ
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