DETERRENCE Act

Summary#

This bill, the DETERRENCE Act, would add sentence increases to several federal criminal statutes when crimes are committed knowingly at the direction of or in coordination with a foreign government or an agent of a foreign government. It adds or changes penalties in these areas: kidnapping (18 U.S.C. 1201), murder-for-hire using interstate commerce (18 U.S.C. 1958), threatening or injuring a family member to influence or retaliate against a federal official (18 U.S.C. 115), stalking across state lines or related conduct (18 U.S.C. 2261A), assaults on officers and employees (18 U.S.C. 1114), and attacks on the President or presidential staff (18 U.S.C. 1751). The bill sets specific extra prison terms in each place. Examples from the bill text include increases up to 10 years for certain kidnapping and presidential-related offenses, up to 5 years for some attempts, up to 10 years for murder-for-hire with personal injury, up to 5 or 10 years for certain stalking or assault harms, and up to 30 months for other stalking cases. The bill also makes a few technical and conforming statutory edits and names the short title.

What it means for you#

• If you are convicted of one of the covered crimes, and the court finds the crime was knowingly done at the direction of or coordinated with a foreign government or its agent, the judge may add the extra prison time listed in the amended statutes.
• The added prison time varies by offense and by the harm caused (for example, deeper increases for death or serious bodily injury).
• The bill affects the statutory maximum punishments and gives judges the option to increase sentences by the amounts the bill specifies.

Expenses#

No publicly available information.

Proponents' View#

No publicly available information beyond the bill text and sponsors listed in the bill metadata.

Opponents' View#

No publicly available information.