S. 1949 — Combating Violent and Dangerous Crime Act

This section revises subsection (a) of the federal bank robbery statute to strike specific phrases covering attempts to take property by force, violence, or intimidation and attempts to obtain property by extortion, replacing them with a general provision ("or attempts to do so") that covers attempts to engage in those actions against a bank, credit union, or savings and loan association. The section also inserts a new subsection (f) subjecting conspiracy to commit any offense under the statute to the same penalties as those prescribed for the offense (e.g., up to 20 years imprisonment under subsection (a), up to 25 years under subsection (d) if assault or a dangerous weapon is used) and redesignates existing subsections (f), (g), and (h) as (g), (h), and (i). (Thus, conspirators face the full maximum penalties of the target offense rather than a five-year maximum under the general conspiracy statute.)

This section amends 18 U.S.C. 111(a)—which prohibits forcibly assaulting, resisting, impeding, intimidating, or interfering with federal officers and employees designated in 18 U.S.C. 1114 (e.g., law enforcement officers, federal judges, and prosecutors)—by adding subsection (d) to provide that the government need not prove the defendant knew the victim's protected status or acted with any intent greater than knowledge. (Thus, the offense requires only general intent, resolving an apparent circuit split on the mens rea standard.)

This section revises the federal carjacking statute by (1) eliminating the requirement that an offender act with intent to cause death or serious bodily injury; (2) expanding liability to include conspiracies by inserting "or conspires" after "attempts"; (3) increasing the maximum prison term for a basic carjacking offense to 20 years (from 15 years); (4) adding a new penalty tier of up to 25 years imprisonment if a dangerous weapon or device is used in committing or attempting the offense; and (5) increasing the maximum term for carjacking resulting in serious bodily injury to 40 years (from 25 years). The maximum penalty if death results remains unchanged at life imprisonment or death.

This section revises the definition of crime of violence in 18 U.S.C. 924(c)(3)(B) from an offense that by its nature involves a substantial risk that physical force against the person or property of another may be used in the course of committing the offense to a conspiracy or attempt to commit an offense that has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person or property of another. (As background, 18 U.S.C. 924(c) imposes mandatory minimum sentences—five years generally, seven years for certain firearms, or 10 years for armor-piercing ammunition—for using or carrying a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence or drug trafficking crime. Thus, conspiracies and attempts to commit certain force-element offenses now qualify as crimes of violence.)

This section amends the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) to establish, as a new §418a, an additional penalty of up to 10 years imprisonment for a first offense (20 years for a second or subsequent offense involving the same controlled substance and schedule) if a person violates CSA §401(a)(1)—which prohibits manufacturing, distributing, dispensing, or possessing with intent to distribute a controlled substance—by doing so with a schedule I or II substance that is combined with a candy or beverage product; marketed or packaged to appear similar to a candy or beverage product; or modified by flavoring or coloring to appear similar to a candy or beverage product, knowing or having reasonable cause to believe it will be distributed, dispensed, or sold to a person under 18 years of age. The section provides exceptions for such controlled substances that (1) have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 355) if not altered from the approved contents, marketing, and packaging or (2) have been altered at the direction of a practitioner for a legitimate medical purpose. It further (1) makes a conforming amendment to the table of contents for the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970 and (2) directs the U.S. Sentencing Commission to amend the federal sentencing guidelines to provide for an enhancement of at least two offense levels for such violations.

This section revises the federal kidnapping statute (18 U.S.C. § 1201) by (1) restructuring subsection (a) to specify that the offense requires unlawfully seizing, confining, kidnapping, abducting, or carrying away an individual by force and violence or intimidation—or inveigling or decoying such an individual—and holding the individual for ransom, reward, or otherwise, in one of five circumstances (i.e., interstate or foreign commerce; special maritime, territorial, or aircraft jurisdiction; or against foreign officials, internationally protected persons, or specified federal officers and employees), retaining the exception for a parent acting against a minor and penalties of any term of years or life imprisonment (or death or life if death results); (2) conforming subsection (b)—the rebuttable presumption of interstate transportation if the victim is not released within 24 hours—to the new structure by referencing subsection (a)(3)(A) and using gender-neutral terms ("the victim" and "such individual"); and (3) updating a cross-reference in subsection (f) from subsection (a)(4) to the new circumstances in subsection (a)(3)(D).