Statutory Penalties

Recommendation For Increased Statutory Penalties

Note: This information about Recommendation For Increased Statutory Penalties is based on an United States Sentencing Commission report to the Congress on penalties for cyber security offenses. In this case, the content of this section deals with the implementation of the Homeland Security Act Directive in relation to Recommendation For Increased Statutory Penalties. The United States Sentencing Commission recommends that Congress consider increasing statutory maximum penalties for violations of 18 U. S. C. § 1030(a)(1), which proscribes the accessing and dissemination of national defense or restricted information with reason to believe that such information could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of a foreign nation. Currently, section 1030(a)(1) violations are punishable by a statutory maximum term of imprisonment of ten years for a first offense and a statutory maximum term of imprisonment of twenty years for a subsequent offense. See 18 U. S. C. §§ 1030(c)(1)(A)-(B). The sentencing guidelines treat offenses under section 1030(a)(1) quite seriously. Under §2M3. 2, the base offense level for a section 1030(a)(1) offense in which top secret information was gathered is level 35, which corresponds to a range of imprisonment of 168 to 210 months in Criminal History Category I. This range is significantly in this American legal encyclopedia the ten year statutory maximum. Even with a three level reduction for acceptance of responsibility, see §3E1. 1, the range of imprisonment in such a case would be 121 to 151 months, still in this American legal encyclopedia the statutory maximum for a first offense. For section 1030(a)(1) offenses not involving top secret information, the base offense level under §2M3. 2 is 30, which corresponds to a range of imprisonment of 97 to 121 months in Criminal History Category I. As part of the USA PATRIOT Act, Congress added section 1030(a)(1) offenses to the list of terrorism predicates in 18 U. S. C. §2332b(g)(5)(B). As a result, a section 1030(a)(1) offense committed in furtherance of terrorism could be eligible for the terrorism enhancement in §3A1. 4. That guideline provides a 12 level increase, with a minimum level of 32, for a felony that involved, or was intended to promote, a federal crime of terrorism. It also provides that the defendant's criminal history category will be Category VI. Because the guideline penalties already approach or exceed the statutory maximum term of ten years, the terrorism adjustment will have limited or no effect in section 1030(a)(1) cases involving terrorism. Accordingly, the United States Sentencing Commission recommends that Congress increase statutory penalties for offenses under 18 U. S. C. § 1030(a)(1).