Senate Judiciary Committee Approves Feinstein/Kyl
Legislation to Increase Penalties for Identity Theft Crimes
November 14, 2002

Washington, DC - The Senate Judiciary Committee today approved legislation sponsored by Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Jon Kyl (R-AZ), Charles Grassley (R-IA), and Jeff Sessions (R-AL) that would increase penalties on identity theft crimes.

The legislation was developed in coordination with the Justice Department and would help law enforcement capture and prosecute serious identity thieves. Senator Feinstein and Attorney General John Ashcroft unveiled plans for this legislation at a Justice Department ceremony on May 22, 2002.

"Combating identity theft has been one of my top priorities, and I have worked very closely in this committee with Senator Kyl both to crack down on identity thieves and make such crimes more difficult to commit," Senator Feinstein said. "This legislation will make it easier for prosecutors to target those who steal an identity for the purpose of committing other serious crimes, including murder and terrorism. I want to thank my Senate colleagues on the Judiciary Committee for approving this legislation, and it is my hope that it will be approved by the full Senate in the last days of this Congress or early on in the next Congress."

Specifically, the legislation would:

• Increase penalties by two years for anyone who commits "aggravated identity theft" in order to commit a serious federal predicate offense (including immigration violations, false citizenship crimes, firearms offenses, and other serious crimes);
  
  
• Increase penalties by five years for anyone who commits identity theft for the purpose of committing a terrorist act;

The additional years would have to run consecutively with the sentence for the underlying crime, but a judge could combine terms of additional identity thefts committed to perpetrate the same underlying offense.

• Make it easier for prosecutors to prove identity theft, by stating that as long as criminal intent is proved for the underlying offense, no further proof of intent is required.

• Add the word "possesses" to current law so that prosecutors can go after ID thieves who possess false identity documents with the intent to commit a crime. Current law only punishes transfer or sale of those documents
  
  
• Amend current law to increase from three to five years the maximum term of imprisonment for ordinary identity theft and for possession of false identification documents.
  
  
• Amend current law to impose a higher maximum penalty for identity theft used to facilitate acts of domestic terrorism. Current law imposes this same penalty for an act of international terrorism, but not domestic terrorism.

"Identity theft is a crime with severe consequences not only for the individual victims, but for every consumer and every financial institution," Senator Feinstein said. "Fraud losses at financial institutions are running well over one billion dollars annually. The average loss from just one instance of identity theft now ranges about $18,000. An individual victim may not be individually liable for stolen goods on their credit cards, but the time and effort required to regain one's identity can be quite debilitating. On average, it takes a full year and a half to regain one's identity once it has been stolen."

"And finally, we must not underestimate the importance of stolen identity documents to a terrorist's ability to assimilate into American society. Protecting a person's social security number and other aspects of an individual's identity can be as important to our homeland security as border patrol or airport screening."

Senator Feinstein has long been interested in combating identity theft. In the 107^th Congress, she introduced legislation that would prohibit anyone from selling or displaying a Social Security number to the general public without the Social Security number holder's consent. Separate legislation would give identity theft victims tools to restore their identity.

###