Dear Senators Blackburn, Luján, Cornyn, and Cortez Masto,
I am writing on behalf of the members of the Fraternal Order of Police to advise you of our support for S.1572, the “Federal Carjacking Enforcement Act.”
This legislation updates 18 U.S.C. § 2119, the Federal statute governing carjacking offenses that was originally enacted as part of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994. While the statute was intended to provide Federal authorities with the means to address violent vehicle theft, its current language has limited prosecutors’ ability to bring charges in many cases due to the heightened intent requirement.
Specifically, the bill would strike the phrase “with the intent to cause death or serious bodily harm” and replace it with the term “knowingly.” This change would allow prosecutors to more effectively pursue carjacking cases where the offender clearly and deliberately takes a vehicle by force, violence, or intimidation, but where proving the current statute’s heightened intent requirement may be unnecessarily difficult.
Carjacking incidents more than doubled in several major U.S. cities between 2019 and 2023, highlighting the growing threat this crime poses, and ensuring that Federal prosecutors have a practical statute is an important step toward addressing this trend. Importantly, the bill does not expand the scope of the statute or create new offenses—rather, it simply modernizes it by removing a barrier that has limited its effectiveness.
On behalf of the more than 382,000 members of the Fraternal Order of Police, I thank you all for your leadership on this important issue. If I can provide any additional information about this bill, please do not hesitate to contact me or Executive Director Jim Pasco in our Washington, D.C. office.
Sincerely,
Patrick Yoes
National President