II

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1099

To increase the criminal penalties for assaulting or threatening Federal

judges, their family members, and other public servants, and for other

purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JUNE 26, 2001

Mr. SMITH of Oregon (for himself and Mr. LEAHY) introduced the following

bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To increase the criminal penalties for assaulting or threatening Federal judges, their family members, and other

public servants, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Federal Judiciary Pro5 tection Act of 2001’’.

6 SEC. 2. ASSAULTING, RESISTING, OR IMPEDING CERTAIN

7 OFFICERS OR EMPLOYEES.

8 Section 111 of title 18, United States Code, is

9 amended—
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1 (1) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘three’’ and

2 inserting ‘‘8’’; and

3 (2) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘ten’’ and in4 serting ‘‘20’’.

5 SEC. 3. INFLUENCING, IMPEDING, OR RETALIATING

6 AGAINST A FEDERAL OFFICIAL BY THREAT7 ENING OR INJURING A FAMILY MEMBER.

8 Section 115(b)(4) of title 18, United States Code, is

9 amended—

10 (1) by striking ‘‘five’’ and inserting ‘‘10’’; and

11 (2) by striking ‘‘three’’ and inserting ‘‘6’’.

12 SEC. 4. MAILING THREATENING COMMUNICATIONS.

13 Section 876 of title 18, United States Code, is

14 amended—

15 (1) by designating the first 4 undesignated

16 paragraphs as subsections (a) through (d), respec17 tively;

18 (2) in subsection (c), as redesignated by para19 graph (1), by adding at the end the following: ‘‘If

20 such a communication is addressed to a United

21 States judge, a Federal law enforcement officer, or

22 an official who is covered by section 1114, the indi23 vidual shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not

24 more than 10 years, or both.’’; and
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1 (3) in subsection (d), as redesignated by para2 graph (1), by adding at the end the following: ‘‘If

3 such a communication is addressed to a United

4 States judge, a Federal law enforcement officer, or

5 an official who is covered by section 1114, the indi6 vidual shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not

7 more than 10 years, or both.’’.

8 SEC. 5. AMENDMENT OF THE SENTENCING GUIDELINES

9 FOR ASSAULTS AND THREATS AGAINST FED10 ERAL JUDGES AND CERTAIN OTHER FED11 ERAL OFFICIALS AND EMPLOYEES.

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—Pursuant to its authority under

13 section 994 of title 28, United States Code, the United

14 States Sentencing Commission shall review and amend the

15 Federal sentencing guidelines and the policy statements

16 of the commission, if appropriate, to provide an appro17 priate sentencing enhancement for offenses involving in18 fluencing, assaulting, resisting, impeding, retaliating

19 against, or threatening a Federal judge, magistrate judge,

20 or any other official described in section 111 or 115 of

21 title 18, United States Code.

22 (b) FACTORS FOR CONSIDERATION.—In carrying out

23 this section, the United States Sentencing Commission

24 shall consider, with respect to each offense described in

25 subsection (a)—
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1 (1) any expression of congressional intent re2 garding the appropriate penalties for the offense;

3 (2) the range of conduct covered by the offense;

4 (3) the existing sentences for the offense;

5 (4) the extent to which sentencing enhance6 ments within the Federal sentencing guidelines and

7 the authority of the court to impose a sentence in

8 excess of the applicable guideline range are adequate

9 to ensure punishment at or near the maximum pen10 alty for the most egregious conduct covered by the

11 offense;

12 (5) the extent to which the Federal sentencing

13 guideline sentences for the offense have been con14 strained by statutory maximum penalties;

15 (6) the extent to which the Federal sentencing

16 guidelines for the offense adequately achieve the

17 purposes of sentencing as set forth in section

18 3553(a)(2) of title 18, United States Code;

19 (7) the relationship of the Federal sentencing

20 guidelines for the offense to the Federal sentencing

21 guidelines for other offenses of comparable serious22 ness; and

23 (8) any other factors that the Commission con24 siders to be appropriate.

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