[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 81 (Wednesday, May 26, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E951]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         INTRODUCTION OF LEGISLATION TO ADDRESS IDENTITY THEFT

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. BOB GOODLATTE

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 26, 2010

  Mr. GOODLATTE. Madam Speaker, I rise today to introduce bipartisan 
legislation to strengthen the federal criminal laws punishing identity 
theft.
  Identity theft is a serious and growing threat. The Federal Trade 
Commission estimates that as many as 9 million Americans have their 
identities stolen each year.
  Identity thieves use identifying information such as a consumer's 
Social Security number, credit card numbers, or other financial account 
information in order to conduct such fraud as opening up new credit 
cards and gaining access to bank accounts. The ramifications can be 
financially disastrous for citizens and can be extremely difficult to 
resolve. We must crack down hard on these criminals.
  The fear of identity theft is also consistently cited as a reason 
many Americans are cautious about engaging in more transactions online. 
This is unfortunate because of the multitude of ways the Internet can 
help consumers shop, do business and communicate efficiently and at low 
cost.
  The United States has many federal statutes targeting identity theft. 
However, some of these laws were weakened by a recent Supreme Court 
case.
  18 USC 1028 and 1028A contain criminal punishments for certain 
identity theft violations when those violations are in connection with 
other federal crimes and state felonies. In 2009, the Supreme Court 
ruled that the language of those federal statutes require not only that 
the criminal use the identification documents of another person, but 
also that the criminal knew the documents were those of another actual 
person.
  The context of that case was that an illegal alien had given an 
employer counterfeit social security and alien registration cards 
containing his name but the identification numbers of other 
individuals. He was charged with two immigration offenses as well as 
aggravated identity theft. The Supreme Court overturned the conviction 
on the aggravated identity theft count explaining that the language of 
the relevant statutes required prosecutors to prove not only that the 
defendant used identity documents that were not his own, but also that 
the defendant knew the identity documents were those of another actual 
person.
  Identity theft occurs when someone intentionally and unlawfully uses 
identity documents that are not his own. Our federal statutes should 
reflect this reality.
  Today, I am introducing legislation to amend these federal statutes 
to make clear that when an identity thief intentionally and unlawfully 
uses identity documents that are not his own, prosecutors do not need 
to show that the criminal also knew that the identity documents were 
those of another actual person.
  This clarification will help prosecutors put identity thieves behind 
bars and will help safeguard American citizens from identity-related 
crimes. I urge the Members of the House to support this bipartisan 
legislation.

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