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1 1 (August 12, 2019)

handle is hein.crs/govbbwr0001 and id is 1 raw text is: k\ Cec;<; \ e Domestic Terrorism: Some Considerations August 12, 2019 Introduction Mass shootings and other recent events have led to suggestions for (1) making domestic terrorism a separate federal crime; (2) affording law enforcement agencies authority comparable to that which they enjoy in cases of international terrorism; and (3) adjusting existing federal law enforcement priorities to place greater emphasis on domestic terrorism. Domestic terrorism as a separate federal crime Existing federal law defines domestic terrorism but does not outlaw it by name. Section 233 (5) of the federal criminal code defines domestic terrorism as a life-endangering federal or state crime, committed within the United States, with the apparent intent to coerce or intimidate a civilian population or influence government policy or conduct. Domestic terrorism, by name, is not a federal crime, but the conduct that Section 2331(5) describes is already a state or federal crime under some other name. With or without a terrorist motive, life-endangering misconduct - homicide or assault - is a crime under the laws of each of the fifty states and the District of Columbia. Homicide is a federal offense or a sentencing factor for dozens of federal crimes with various jurisdictional predicates (e.g., killing a federal officer or employee). Violence directed against particular segments of the population often constitutes a federal civil rights or hate crime offense. Several federal criminal provisions already use domestic terrorism as defined in Section 2331(5) as an element of a separate crime or as a sentence enhancement. Section 2331 also defines international terrorism without making it a separate crime. However, Congress has enacted criminal statutes focused on international terrorism that also might appear to have no domestic terrorism equivalents. For example, the federal crime of providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization has no similarly captioned counterpart on the domestic side. Yet here too, the basis for criminal liability has a different name. Beneath the surface, co-conspirator and accomplice liability look much like providing material support. An individual who aids or abets (provides material support for) someone else's commission of a federal crime, such as rnurdering members of a church congregation or assassinating a Member of Congress, may be prosecuted as an accomplice before the fact. Prosecution is only possible, however, if the underlying crime, the murders or the assassination, actually occur. Conspiracy suffers no such limitation. Federal conspiracy is an agreement of two or more individuals to commit a federal crime, complete when some step is taken toward that criminal objective. Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress.gov LSB10340 CRS Legal Sidebar Prepared for Members and C om m ittees ot C on -g-ess ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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