47A of title 10, United States Code (as added by sub-
section (a)). 
SEC. 4. CLARIFICATION OF CONDUCT CONSTITUTING WAR 
CRIME OFFENSE UNDER FEDERAL CRIMINAL 
CODE. 
(a) APPLICABILITY ONLY TO SERIOUS VIOLATIONS 
OF COMMON ARTICLE 3.—Section 2441 of title 18, United 
States Code is amended— 
(1) by striking paragraph (3) of subsection (c) 
and inserting the following: 
‘‘(3) which constitutes a serious violation of 
common Article 3 of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, 
when committed in the context of and in association 
with an armed conflict not of an international char-
acter; or’’; and 
(2) by adding at the end the following new sub-
section: 
‘‘(d) COVERED COMMON ARTICLE 3 VIOLATIONS.— 
‘‘(1) 
SERIOUS
VIOLATIONS.—In 
subsection 
(c)(3), the term ‘serious violation of common Article 
3 of the 1949 Geneva Conventions’ means any of the 
following: 
‘‘(A) TORTURE.—The act of a person who 
commits, or conspires or attempts to commit, 
an act specifically intended to inflict severe 
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physical pain or suffering or severe mental pain 
or suffering (as such term is defined in section 
2340(2) of this title), other than pain or suf-
fering incidental to lawful sanctions, upon an-
other person within his custody or physical con-
trol for the purpose of obtaining information or 
a confession, punishment, intimidation, coer-
cion, or any reason based on discrimination of 
any kind. 
‘‘(B) CRUEL OR INHUMAN TREATMENT.— 
The act of a person who commits, or conspires 
or attempts to commit, an act intended to in-
flict severe physical pain or suffering or severe 
mental pain or suffering (as such term is de-
fined in section 2340(2) of this title), other 
than pain or suffering incidental to lawful sanc-
tions, and including severe physical abuse, upon 
another person within his custody or physical 
control. 
‘‘(C) PERFORMING
BIOLOGICAL
EXPERI-
MENTS.—The act of a person who subjects, or 
conspires or attempts to subject, one or more 
persons within his custody or physical control to 
biological experiments and in so doing endan-
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gers the body or health of such person or per-
sons. 
‘‘(D) MURDER.—The act of a person who 
intentionally kills, or conspires or attempts to 
kill, or kills whether intentionally or uninten-
tionally in the course of committing any other 
offense under this section, one or more persons 
taking no active part in the hostilities, including 
those placed hors de combat by sickness, 
wounds, detention, or any other cause. 
‘‘(E) MUTILATION OR MAIMING.—The act 
of a person who intentionally injures, or con-
spires or attempts to injure, or injures whether 
intentionally or unintentionally in the course of 
committing any other offense under this sec-
tion, one or more persons taking no active part 
in the hostilities, including those placed hors de 
combat by sickness, wounds, detention, or any 
other cause, by disfiguring the person or per-
sons by any mutilation thereof or by perma-
nently disabling any member, limb, or organ of 
his body, without any legitimate medical or den-
tal purpose. 
‘‘(F) INTENTIONALLY
CAUSING
GREAT 
SUFFERING OR SERIOUS INJURY.—The act of a 
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person who intentionally causes, or conspires or 
attempts to cause, serious bodily injury (as 
such term is defined in section 113(b)(2) of this 
title) to one or more persons taking no active 
part in the hostilities, including those placed 
hors de combat by sickness, wounds, detention, 
or any other cause. 
‘‘(G) RAPE.—The act of a person who 
forcibly or with coercion or threat of force 
wrongfully invades, or conspires or attempts to 
invade, the body of a person by penetrating, 
however slightly, the anal or genital opening of 
the victim with any part of the body of the ac-
cused or with any foreign object. 
‘‘(H) SEXUAL ASSAULT OR ABUSE.—The 
act of a person who forcibly or with coercion or 
threat of force engages, or conspires or at-
tempts to engage, in sexual contact (as such 
term is defined in section 2246(3) of this title) 
with one or more persons, or causes, or con-
spires or attempts to cause, one or more per-
sons to engage in sexual contact (as so defined). 
‘‘(I) TAKING
HOSTAGES.—The act of a 
person who— 
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‘‘(i) having knowingly seized or de-
tained one or more persons, threatens to 
kill, injure, or continue to detain such per-
son or persons with the intent of compel-
ling any nation, person other than the hos-
tage, or group of persons to act or refrain 
from acting as an explicit or implicit condi-
tion for the safety or release of such per-
son or persons; or 
‘‘(ii) attempts to engage or conspires 
to engage in conduct under clause (i). 
‘‘(2) INAPPLICABILITY
OF
SPECIFIED
PROVI-
SIONS WITH RESPECT TO CERTAIN CONDUCT.—The 
intent specified for the conduct stated in subpara-
graphs (D), (E), and (F) of paragraph (1) precludes 
the applicability of those subparagraphs with regard 
to— 
‘‘(A) collateral damage; or 
‘‘(B) death, damage, or injury incident to 
a lawful attack.’’. 
(b) RETROACTIVE
APPLICABILITY.—The amend-
ments made by this section shall take effect as of Novem-
ber 26, 1997, as if enacted immediately after the amend-
ments made by section 583 of Public Law 105–118 (as 
amended by section 4002 of Public Law 107–273). 
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