YourVoice.Now Summary
Criminal Justice & Due ProcessCivil LibertiesKidnapping by deception would become a federal crime — and U.S. law would reach more abuse of children abroad.
Criminal Justice & Due Process
Today the law covers seizing, luring, or carrying a person away. The bill would add taking someone by lies, and it would cover adult victims too.
Today this 30-year minimum applies to someone who crosses a state line meaning to have sex with a child under 12. The bill would extend it to any travel between states or out of the country.
The crime covers making a child under 16 touch a person's genitals for sexual reasons. It applies on federal land and in jails run for the federal government.
Abusive sexual contact means unwanted touching under federal law. Trying it would bring the same penalty as doing it, twice as long if the victim is under 12.
It is already a crime for Americans to go abroad and have sex with a minor. The bill would widen that to sexual touching, which the law does not now count.
This part of kidnapping law sets a 20-year minimum when the victim is under 18. A child under 16 saying yes would not count, unless the accused proves they thought the child was 16 or older.
Civil Liberties
Most changes to criminal law apply only to acts after the law takes effect. The bill says this one travel change applies to acts before, on, or after the day it becomes law.
More about this bill
Nothing here would change your daily life. The bill rewrites parts of federal law on kidnapping and sexual abuse of children. Taking someone by lies would count as kidnapping. That covers tricking a parent, or anyone else, to get hold of the person. In kidnapping cases with a victim under 16, the accused could no longer claim the child agreed to go. They could still argue they had good reason to think the child was 16 or older. Other changes reach acts outside the country. Flying abroad to abuse a child under 12 would carry a 30-year prison minimum. Today that minimum covers crossing a state line, not a border. For Americans who abuse minors abroad, more kinds of contact would count, not just sex acts. A new crime would cover making a child under 16 touch someone sexually. It would apply in federal prisons, in places that hold people for the federal government, and on federal land. The travel change is unusual: it would apply to acts that already happened. Most new crime rules apply only going forward. The Senate passed the bill on September 29, 2025. It still needs the House and the President.
Congressional Summary
This bill makes changes to federal criminal laws related to various offenses, particularly sexual abuse offenses against minors.The bill revises the federal kidnapping statute by specifying that obtaining a victim by defrauding or deceiving a third party constitutes the offense of kidnapping. Additionally, for a kidnapping offense that involves a victim who has not attained the age of 16, the bill specifies that it is not a defense that the victim consented to the conduct of the offender, unless the offender establishes by a preponderance of the evidence that the offender reasonably believed that the victim had attained the age of 16.The bill also revises statutes related to sexual abuse offenses against minors to specify the following:that crossing international lines with the intent to engage in a sexual act with a child who has not attained the age of 12 constitutes aggravated sexual abuse (currently, the statute only references crossing state lines),that the offense of sexual abuse of a minor also includes knowingly causing the intentional touching of any person by a person who has not attained the age of 16, andthat attempting to commit abusive sexual contact is also a crime that is subject to the same penalty as the completed offense.
Legislative Subjects
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- Senate
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Passed Senate
- Action Date
- 2025-09-29
- Date Added
- 2026-03-30
- Source
- Congress.gov →
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