Hazel's Law

Child Protection Act of 2013 or Hazel's Law - Amends federal criminal code provisions prohibiting sex trafficking of children or by force, fraud, or coercion to eliminate the requirement that the defendant had a reasonable opportunity to observe the victim in order to relieve the government of the need to prove that the defendant knew that the victim had not attained age 18.

[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1690 Introduced in House (IH)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1690

To amend title 18, United States Code, to remove knowledge of age as an 
element of the offense for the sex trafficking of children or by force, 
                          fraud, or coercion.


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                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 23, 2013

Mr. Vargas (for himself, Mr. LaMalfa, Mrs. Napolitano, Mr. Enyart, Ms. 
Bass, Mr. Lowenthal, Mr. Rush, Mr. Cardenas, Mrs. Davis of California, 
Mr. Honda, Ms. Jackson Lee, Mrs. Negrete McLeod, Mr. Gutierrez, Mr. Poe 
  of Texas, Mr. Takano, and Mr. Peters of California) introduced the 
  following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend title 18, United States Code, to remove knowledge of age as an 
element of the offense for the sex trafficking of children or by force, 
                          fraud, or coercion.

    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 the ``Child Protection Act of 2013'' or as 
``Hazel's Law''.

SEC. 2. KNOWLEDGE OF AGE NOT REQUIRED FOR SEX TRAFFICKING OF CHILDREN 
              OR BY FORCE, FRAUD, OR COERCION.

    Section 1591(c) of title 18, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) by striking ``in which the defendant had a reasonable 
        opportunity to observe the person so recruited, enticed, 
        harbored, transported, provided, obtained or maintained''; and
            (2) by inserting ``so recruited, enticed, harbored, 
        transported, provided, obtained or maintained'' after ``the 
        Government need not prove that the defendant knew that the 
        person''.
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