“A bill to amend title 18, United States Code, to increase the penalty for rioting.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section revises the penalties in the federal anti-riot statute (18 U.S.C. 2101), which prohibits traveling in interstate or foreign commerce or using an interstate facility (e.g., mail, telephone) with intent to incite, organize, promote, participate in, carry on, or aid a riot, followed by an overt act. It restructures the statute by moving the punishment provision from subsection (a) to new subsection (b); increasing the maximum term of imprisonment to 10 years (from 5 years) for standard violations; and establishing tiered penalties in subsection (b) as follows: (1) for standard violations, a fine, imprisonment for up to 10 years, or both; (2) if the defendant committed or aided an act of violence, a fine, imprisonment for 1-10 years, or both; and (3) if the defendant assaulted a federal law enforcement officer or uniformed service member, a fine, imprisonment for 1 year to life, or both. (Thus, penalties now include mandatory minimums of 1 year for violence-related offenses.) It also redesignates former subsections (b)-(f) as (c)-(g) and makes conforming reference changes.