Federal Carjacking Enforcement Act
The Federal Carjacking Enforcement Act proposes amendments to 18 U.S.C. § 2119 to change how the federal carjacking offense is charged and when the death-related enhancement applies. Specifically, the bill removes the requirement that a carjacking defendant must act with the intent to cause death or serious bodily harm in order for the basic carjacking offense to apply, substituting a “knowingly” standard. It also tightens the death-results provision by making the enhanced response apply only if the motor vehicle is taken with the intent to cause death or serious bodily harm and death results. In practical terms, the bill could broaden federal carjacking prosecutions to include more cases where a suspect takes a vehicle by force or intimidation with knowledge of their wrongdoing, rather than needing a targeted intent to injure. At the same time, the death-related penalty would still be tied to a specific deadly intent, and would only apply when that particular intent exists and death occurs.
Key Points
- 1Short title: The act is named the “Federal Carjacking Enforcement Act.”
- 2Mental state change for base offense: The requirement in the carjacking statute that a defendant act with the intent to cause death or serious bodily harm is removed from the triggering language and replaced with a requirement that the defendant act knowingly.
- 3Death-result enhancement: The language in the statute’s death-result portion is changed so that it applies only if the motor vehicle was taken with the intent to cause death or serious bodily harm and death results.
- 4Effect on prosecutions: By replacing the intent-based standard with “knowingly,” the bill could broaden federal jurisdiction to prosecute more carjacking cases, including those where the taker did not intend to kill or seriously injure.
- 5Preservation of death-related liability: The enhanced penalty for deaths resulting from carjacking remains conditioned on the taker having had the specific deadly intent, with death still needing to occur.