A bill to amend title 18, United States Code, to establish Federal criminal penalties for interstate child endangerment.

Amends the federal criminal code to prohibit a person from: (1) traveling in interstate or foreign commerce to purposely, knowingly, or negligently cause substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury to a child (defined as an individual under age 14) by placing the child in the physical custody of another individual who the person knows has previously injured a child or by operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol or a controlled substance in violation of law while the child is in the vehicle; or (2) forcing a child to travel in interstate or foreign commerce to commit such an offense.

[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2596 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

113th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2596

 To amend title 18, United States Code, to establish Federal criminal 
              penalties for interstate child endangerment.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 14, 2014

   Mr. Walsh introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend title 18, United States Code, to establish Federal criminal 
              penalties for interstate child endangerment.

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

SECTION 1. INTERSTATE CHILD ENDANGERMENT.

    (a) In General.--Chapter 110A of title 18, United States Code, is 
amended by inserting after section 2261A the following:
``Sec. 2261B. Interstate child endangerment
    ``(a) Offenses.--
            ``(1) Travel or conduct of offender.--It shall be unlawful 
        for any person who travels in interstate or foreign commerce or 
        enters or leaves Indian country or is present within the 
        special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United 
        States to purposely, knowingly, or negligently cause 
        substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury to a child 
        by--
                    ``(A) placing the child in the physical custody of 
                another individual who the person knows has previously 
                purposely or knowingly caused bodily injury to a child; 
                or
                    ``(B) operating a motor vehicle under the influence 
                of alcohol or a controlled substance, in violation of 
                the law of the State in which the motor vehicle is 
                being operated, while the child is in the motor 
                vehicle.
            ``(2) Causing travel of victim.--It shall be unlawful for 
        any person to cause a child to travel in interstate or foreign 
        commerce or to enter or leave Indian country by force, 
        coercion, duress, or fraud and in the course of, as a result 
        of, or to facilitate such conduct or travel, to commit or 
        attempt to commit an offense under paragraph (1).
    ``(b) Penalties.--A person who commits an offense under subsection 
(a) shall be fined not more than $50,000, imprisoned for not more than 
10 years, or both.
    ``(c) Definitions.--In this section--
            ``(1) the term `child' means an individual who has not 
        attained 14 years of age; and
            ``(2) the term `controlled substances' has the meaning 
        given the term in section 102 of the Controlled Substances Act 
        (21 U.S.C. 802).''.
    (b) Table of Sections.--The table of section for chapter 110A of 
title 18, United States Code, is amended by inserting after the item 
relating to section 2261A the following:

``2261B. Interstate child endangerment.''.
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