Comments on: Can you be charged with “relevant conduct” that occurs outside the United States

By: JZ

JZ — Tue, 07 May 2019 21:11:54 +0000

Short answer, “Yes.”

“Authorizes fines and/or imprisonment for up to 30 years for U.S. citizens or residents who engage in illicit sexual conduct abroad. For the purposes of this law, illicit sexual conduct is defined as commercial sex with or sexual abuse of anyone under 18, or any sex with anyone under 16.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PROTECT_Act_of_2003

By: Kevin Hill

Kevin Hill — Mon, 06 May 2019 21:36:36 +0000

The act itself, when conducted outside the US and thus not in US jurisdiction should not be a charge against the defendant. However, if they are stupid enough (IMHO) to bring evidence back into the US with them (pictures, videos, etc), then they deserve to be prosecuted for possession of said pictures or video.

By: Bob

Bob — Mon, 06 May 2019 21:10:15 +0000

It used to be you were safe if you were in a country and whatever you did was legal (child porn is legal in about 70% of countries) there, because of “dual criminality”.

If what you did in one country was legal, you could not be charged by another country because it was illegal there. It had to be illegal in BOTH countries to be illegal (thus dual criminality).

That is the way I understand the law. The U.S. of A seems to ignore the dual criminality law and deem you to be liable for infringement to all laws of the United States at all times, regardless of where you are and regardless if it is legal in the jurisdiction of the country you are alleged to commit the “crime”.

By: John

John — Mon, 06 May 2019 20:20:33 +0000

How can a court in the United States claim jurisdiction for conduct that occurs outside the United States? If one has sex in Europe legally with a 15, 16, or 17 year old where the age of consent is 15, the United States cannot claim jurisdiction of any legal conduct that occurs in a foreign land, in my opinion.

The United States court should be limited in jurisdiction to the United States, and should not be allowed to extend its tentacles to jurisdictions that are NOT in its purview.

By: Jacob

Jacob — Mon, 06 May 2019 20:19:50 +0000

If the Supreme Court takes this up, it will influence Federal sentencing for all kinds of crimes, not just this kind.

Of course, the headline here could cause some confusion in the discussion, FAC, because the case is not actually relevant to charging. Can a federal criminal defendant be “SENTENCED for” relevant conduct outside the US? In this circuit, yes, unless Supreme Court overturns.