AMENDMENT 627
Amendment: Sections 2G1.1, 2G2.1, 2H4.1, 2H4.2, and 5E1.1, and each line in Appendix A (Statutory Index) referenced to 18 U.S.C. § 241, § 1589, § 1590, §1591, or §1592, or to 29 U.S.C. § 1851, effective May 1, 2001 (see Amendment 612), are repromulgated with the following changes:
Section 5E1.1(a)(1) is amended by inserting ", or 21 U.S.C. § 853(q)" after "3663A".
The Commentary to §5E1.1 captioned "Background" is amended in the first paragraph by inserting ", and 21 U.S.C. § 853(q)" after "3663A".
Reason for Amendment: This amendment repromulgates as a permanent amendment the previously promulgated emergency amendment on human trafficking. (See Amendment 612.) The amendment implements the congressional directive in section 112(b) of the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000, Pub. L. 106–386 (the "Act").
The directive requires the Commission to amend, if appropriate, the guidelines applicable to human trafficking (i.e., peonage, involuntary servitude, and forced labor) offenses. It also requires the Commission to ensure that the guidelines "are sufficiently stringent to deter and adequately reflect the heinous nature of these offenses." In compliance with the directive, the amendment (1) creates a new guideline, §2H4.2 (Willful Violations of the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act); (2) refers violations of four new statutes, 18 U.S.C. §§ 1589 (Forced Labor), 1590 (Trafficking with Respect to Peonage, Involuntary Servitude or Forced Labor), 1591 (Sex Trafficking of Children by Force, Fraud or Coercion), and 1592 (Unlawful Conduct with Respect to Documents in Furtherance of Peonage, Involuntary Servitude, or Forced Labor) to the appropriate guidelines; and (3) makes changes, consistent with the directive, which both enhance sentences and reflect changes to three existing statutes: 18 U.S.C. §§ 1581(a) (Peonage), 1583 (Enticement into Slavery) and 1584 (Sale into Involuntary Servitude).
To address this multi-faceted directive, the amendment makes changes to several existing guidelines and creates a new guideline for criminal violations of the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act. Although the directive instructs the Commission to amend the guidelines applicable to the Fair Labor Standards Act (29 U.S.C. § 201 et. seq.), a criminal violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act is only a Class B misdemeanor. See 29 U.S.C. § 216. Thus, the guidelines are not applicable to those offenses.
The amendment references the new offense at 18 U.S.C. § 1591 to §2G1.1 (Promoting Prostitution or Prohibited Sexual Conduct). Section 1591 provides criminal penalties for a defendant who participates in the transporting or harboring of a person, or who benefits from participating in such a venture, with the knowledge that force, fraud, or coercion will be used to cause that person to engage in a commercial sex act or with knowledge that the person is not 18 years old and will be forced to engage in a commercial sex act. Despite the statute’s inclusion in a chapter of title 18 devoted mainly to peonage offenses, section 1591 offenses are more analogous to the offenses referenced to the prostitution guideline.
Section 1591 cases alternatively have been referred in Appendix A (Statutory Index) to §2G2.1 (Sexually Exploiting a Minor by Production of Sexually Explicit Visual or Printed Material; Custodian Permitting Minor to Engage in Sexually Explicit Conduct; Advertisement for Minors to Engage in Production). This has been done in anticipation that some portion of section 1591 cases will involve forcing or coercing children to engage in commercial sex acts for the purpose of producing pornography. Such offenses, as recognized by the higher base offense level at §2G2.1, are more serious because they both involve specific harm to an individual victim and further an additional criminal purpose, namely, commercial pornography.
The amendment maintains the view that §2H4.1 (Peonage, Involuntary Servitude, and Slave Trade) continues to be an appropriate tool for determining sentences for violations of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1581, 1583, and 1584. Section 2H4.1 also is designed to cover offenses under three new statutes: 18 U.S.C. §§ 1589, 1590, and 1592. Section 1589 provides criminal penalties for a defendant who provides or obtains the labor or services of another by the use of threats of serious harm or physical restraint against a person, or by a scheme or plan intended to make the person believe that physical restraint or serious harm would result from not performing the labor or services. This statute also applies to defendants who provide or obtain labor or services of another by abusing or threatening abuse of the law or the legal process. See 18 U.S.C. § 1589.
Section 1590 provides criminal penalties for a defendant who harbors, transports, or is otherwise involved in obtaining, a person for labor or services. Section 1592 provides criminal penalties for a defendant who knowingly possesses, destroys, or removes an actual passport, other immigration document, or government identification document of another person in the course of a violation of § 1581 (peonage), § 1583 (enticement into slavery), § 1584 (sale into involuntary servitude), § 1589 (forced labor), § 1590 (trafficking with respect to these offenses), § 1591 (sex trafficking of children by force, fraud, or coercion), or § 1594(a) (attempts to violate these offenses). Section 1592 also provides criminal penalties for a defendant who, with intent to violate § 1581, § 1583, § 1584, § 1589, § 1590, or § 1591, knowingly possesses, destroys, or removes an actual passport, other immigration document, or government identification document of another person. These statutes prohibit the types of behaviors that traditionally have been sentenced under §2H4.1.
The amendment provides an alternative, less punitive base offense level of level 18 for those who violate 18 U.S.C. § 1592, an offense which limits participation in peonage cases to the destruction or wrongful confiscation of a passport or other immigration document. This alternative, lower base level reflects the lower statutory maximum sentence for section 1592 offenses (i.e., 5 years’ imprisonment).
Section 2H4.1(b)(2) has been expanded to provide a four-level increase if a dangerous weapon was used and a two-level increase if a dangerous weapon was brandished or its use was threatened. Prior to this amendment, only actual use of a dangerous weapon was covered. This change reflects the directive to consider an enhancement for the use or threatened use of a dangerous weapon. The commentary to §2H4.1 is amended to clarify that the threatened use of a dangerous weapon applies regardless of whether a dangerous weapon was actually present.
The amendment also creates a new guideline, §2H4.2 (Willful Violations of the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act), in response to the directive to amend the guidelines applicable to such offenses. These offenses, which have a statutory maximum sentence of one year imprisonment for first offenses and three years’ imprisonment for subsequent offenses, were not, prior to this amendment, referred to any specific guideline. The amendment provides a base offense level of level 6 in recognition of the low statutory maximum sentences set for these cases by Congress. Further, these offenses typically involve violations of regulatory provisions. Setting the base offense level at level 6 provides consistency with guidelines for other regulatory offenses. See, e.g., §§2N2.1 (Violations of Statutes and Regulations Dealing With Any Food, Drug, Biological Product, Device, Cosmetic, or Agricultural Product) and 2N3.1 (Odometer Laws and Regulations). Subsections (b)(1), an enhancement for bodily injury, and (b)(2), an enhancement applicable to defendants who commit the instant offense after previously sustaining a civil penalty for similar misconduct, have been established to respond to the directive that the Commission consider sentencing enhancement for this aggravated conduct. This provision addresses the Department of Justice’s and the Department of Labor’s concern regarding the need for enhanced penalties in cases involving prior administrative and civil adjudications.
This amendment also addresses that portion of section 112 of the Act that amends chapter 77 of title 18, United States Code, to provide mandatory restitution for peonage and involuntary servitude offenses. The amendment amends §5E1.1 (Restitution) to include a reference to 18 U.S.C. § 1593 in the guideline provision regarding mandatory restitution.
By enactment of various sentencing enhancements and encouraged upward departures for areas of concern identified by Congress, the Commission has provided for more severe sentences for perpetrators of human trafficking offenses in keeping with the conclusion that the offenses covered by this amendment are both heinous in nature and being committed with increasing frequency.
In addition, to repromulgating the emergency amendment, this amendment responds to section 3613 of the Methamphetamine Anti-Proliferation Act of 2000, Pub. L. 106–310, that amends 21 U.S.C. § 853(q) to provide mandatory restitution for offenses involving the manufacture of methamphetamine. Accordingly, the amendment amends §5E1.1 (Restitution) to include a reference to 21 U.S.C. § 853(q) in the guideline provision regarding mandatory restitution.
Effective Date: The effective date of this amendment is November 1, 2001.