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1 1 (April 25, 2025)

handle is hein.crs/smectcfs0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional ______ a Res'earch Service a Supreme Court Clarifies That a Crime of Violence May Be Committed by Omission April 25, 2025 Federal law, at 18 U.S.C. § 924(c), triggers a mandatory minimum penalty of five years of imprisonment for using or carrying a firearm in the commission of a crime of violence. Section 924(c) further defines a crime of violence for purposes of this mandatory minimum to include an offense that is a felony and that has as an element the use . . . of physical force against the person . .. of another. An open question has been whether a person who knowingly refrains from action to cause death or bodily injury to another uses physical force for purposes of Section 924(c). As examples, consider circumstances in which someone knowingly allows another to fall through an open manhole cover, neglects to provide lifesaving medicine or nutrition to another, permits a hostage to starve, fails to rescue a drowning swimmer, or does not stop his vehicle as it heads downhill toward another person. Whether a Section 924(c) crime of violence may be committed by omission, or a failure to act, has engaged and divided ten federal appeals courts in line-drawing challenges. On March 21, 2025, the Supreme Court in Delligatti v. United States resolved the circuit split, holding by a 7-2 vote that a defendant who causes bodily injury or death to another necessarily uses physical force within the meaning of Section 924(c) even if the result is caused by omission rather than action. This Sidebar begins with an overview of Section 924(c), gives background information on Delligatti, and covers the majority and dissenting opinions from the Court. The Sidebar concludes with considerations for Congress. Section 924(c) The term crime of violence appears in numerous federal statutes. Three federal criminal laws contain definitions of the term or similar terms. The Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984, found in 18 U.S.C. § 16, provides a definition of crime of violence in an effort to standardize the definition of the term in federal criminal law. The Armed Career Criminal Act, located in 18 U.S.C. § 924(e), subjects an individual who commits a firearms offense and who has three previous convictions for a violent felony or a serious drug offense to a fifteen-year mandatory minimum sentence. Section 924(c) subjects individuals who use or carry a firearm in connection with a crime of violence to a five-year mandatory minimum. The definitions of a crime of violence or violent felony in these statutes are similar in that Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress.gov LSB11293 CRS Legal Sidebar Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress

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