[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 352 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 352

 To amend the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 to 
  provide enhanced penalties for crimes of violence against children 
                             under age 13.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 27, 2003

    Mr. Cunningham (for himself, Mr. Foley, Mr. Baker, Mr. Davis of 
  Alabama, and Mr. Jones of North Carolina) introduced the following 
       bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 to 
  provide enhanced penalties for crimes of violence against children 
                             under age 13.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as ``Matthew's Law''.

SEC. 2. ENHANCED PENALTIES FOR CRIMES OF VIOLENCE AGAINST CHILDREN 
              UNDER AGE 13.

    (a) In General.--Title XVII of the Violent Crime Control and Law 
Enforcement Act of 1994 is amended by adding at the end the following:

    ``Subtitle C--Enhanced Penalties for Crimes of Violence Against 
                         Children Under Age 13

``SEC. 170301. ENHANCED PENALTIES FOR CRIMES OF VIOLENCE AGAINST 
              CHILDREN UNDER AGE 13.

    ``(a) In General.--The United States Sentencing Commission shall 
amend the Federal sentencing guidelines to provide a sentencing 
enhancement of not less than 5 levels above the offense level otherwise 
provided for a crime of violence, if the crime of violence is against a 
child.
    ``(b) Definitions.--In this section--
            ``(1) the term `crime of violence' means any crime 
        punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year that 
        has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of 
        physical force against the person of another; and
            ``(2) the term `child' means a person who has not attained 
        13 years of age at the time of the offense.''.
    (b) Conforming Repeal.--Section 240002 of such Act (28 U.S.C. 994 
note) is repealed.
    (c) Clerical Amendment.--The table of contents of such Act is 
amended by striking the item relating to subtitle C of title XVII and 
the items relating to sections 170301 through 170303 and inserting the 
following:

``Subtitle C--Enhanced Penalties for Crimes of Violence Against 
                            Children Under Age 13
``Sec. 170301. Enhanced penalties for crimes of violence against 
                            children under age 13.''.

SEC. 3. FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION ASSISTANCE AVAILABLE TO STATE 
              OR LOCAL LAW AUTHORITIES IN INVESTIGATING POSSIBLE 
              HOMICIDES OF CHILDREN UNDER THE AGE OF 13.

    To the maximum extent practicable, the Federal Bureau of 
Investigation may provide to State and local law enforcement 
authorities such assistance as such authorities may require in 
investigating the death of an individual who has not attained 13 years 
of age under circumstances indicating that the death may have been a 
homicide.