No official summary available for this bill.
[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3398 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 3398
To amend title 18, United States Code, to criminalize intentional
threats to distribute child sexual abuse material, and to provide
appropriate penalties for the use of child sexual abuse material to
extort or coerce victims.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
December 9, 2025
Mr. Grassley (for himself, Mr. Durbin, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. Cornyn, Mrs.
Blackburn, and Mr. Graham) introduced the following bill; which was
read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend title 18, United States Code, to criminalize intentional
threats to distribute child sexual abuse material, and to provide
appropriate penalties for the use of child sexual abuse material to
extort or coerce victims.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Stop Sextortion Act''.
SEC. 2. CRIMINALIZING THREATS TO DISTRIBUTE CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE
MATERIAL.
Title 18, United States Code, is amended--
(1) in section 2252--
(A) in subsection (a)(2)--
(i) in the matter preceding subparagraph
(A)--
(I) by inserting ``, or threatens
to distribute any visual depiction with
intent to intimidate, coerce, extort,
or cause substantial emotional distress
to any person,'' after ``distributes,
any visual depiction'';
(II) by striking ``foreign commerce
or that'' and inserting ``foreign
commerce, or involving a visual
depiction that''; and
(III) by striking ``, or which
contains materials which have been
mailed or so shipped or transported,'';
and
(B) in subsection (b)--
(i) in paragraph (1), by striking
``Whoever'' and inserting ``Except as provided
in paragraph (3), whoever''; and
(ii) by adding at the end the following:
``(3) Whoever violates, or attempts or conspires to violate,
subsection (a)(2) for threatening to distribute any visual depiction,
as described in that subsection, shall be punished as provided in
paragraph (2) of this subsection if no such visual depiction
existed.''; and
(2) in section 2252A--
(A) in subsection (a)(2)(A)--
(i) by inserting ``, or threatens to
distribute any child pornography with intent to
intimidate, coerce, extort, or cause
substantial emotional distress to any person,''
after ``any child pornography''; and
(ii) by striking ``foreign commerce or
that'' and inserting ``foreign commerce, or
involving any child pornography that''; and
(B) in subsection (b)--
(i) in paragraph (1), by striking
``Whoever'' and inserting ``Except as provided
in paragraph (4), whoever''; and
(ii) by adding at the end the following:
``(4) Whoever violates, or attempts or conspires to violate,
subsection (a)(2)(A) for threatening to distribute any child
pornography, as described in that subsection, shall be punished as
provided in paragraph (2) of this subsection if no such child
pornography existed.''.
SEC. 3. PENALTIES FOR THREATS TO DISTRIBUTE CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE
MATERIAL.
(a) In General.--Title 18, United States Code, is amended--
(1) in section 1466A--
(A) in subsection (a), in the matter preceding
subsection (b), by inserting ``, but if the offense
involves the knowing use of a visual depiction of a
minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct, with the
intent to intimidate, coerce, extort, or cause
substantial emotional distress to any person, the
maximum term of imprisonment provided in section
2252A(b)(1) shall be increased by 10 years'' before the
period at the end; and
(B) in subsection (b), in the matter preceding
subsection (c), by inserting ``, but if the offense
involves the knowing use of a visual depiction of a
minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct, with the
intent to intimidate, coerce, extort, or cause
substantial emotional distress to any person, the
maximum term of imprisonment provided in section
2252A(b)(2) shall be increased by 10 years'' before the
period at the end; and
(2) in section 2260A--
(A) in the section heading, by striking ``Penalties
for registered sex offenders'' and inserting ``Other
offenses and penalties'';
(B) by striking ``Whoever'' and inserting the
following:
``(1) Offenses by registered sex offenders.--Whoever''; and
(C) by adding at the end the following:
``(2) Additional penalties.--If any offense under section
875(d), 2251, 2252, 2252A, or 2260 involves the knowing use of
child pornography with the intent to intimidate, coerce,
extort, or cause substantial emotional distress to any person,
the maximum term of imprisonment provided in section 875(d),
2251(e), 2252(b), 2252A(b), or 2260(c) shall be increased by 10
years.''.
(b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections for chapter 110 of
title 18, United States Code, is amended by striking the item relating
to section 2260A and inserting the following:
``2260A. Other offenses and penalties.''.
SEC. 4. SEVERABILITY.
If any provision of this Act, an amendment made by this Act, or the
application of such provision or amendment to any person or
circumstance is held to be unconstitutional, the remainder of this Act,
the amendments made by this Act, and the application of the provisions
of such to any person or circumstance shall not be affected thereby.
<all>
Introduced in Senate
Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
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