Sponsors (10)
The bill strengthens federal protection and prosecution options against those who coerce minors via interstate or online means—closing gaps for non‑physical coercion—but expands federal reach and uses broad definitions and heavy penalties that raise due‑process, privacy, and state‑federal balance concerns.
Minors (children and youth) are more directly protected because the bill makes it a federal crime to coerce them via mail or interstate communications into self-harm, sexual acts, animal crushing, or degrading abuse.
Federal law enforcement (DOJ and related federal prosecutors) gain clear statutory penalties and jurisdiction (including sentences up to 10, 20 years, or life depending on offense) to pursue cross‑jurisdictional coercion of minors, improving the ability to investigate and prosecute perpetrators who exploit interstate/online channels.
The bill’s definition of 'compel' explicitly covers non-physical coercion (threats, extortion, blackmail, fraud, deceit, manipulation), which closes a gap for online and psychological methods commonly used to coerce minors.
Many people and state governments could see increased federal involvement because the bill expands federal criminal jurisdiction into conduct that states often prosecute, risking duplication of prosecutions and shifting cases to federal courts.
The bill’s broad definition of 'compel' (including manipulation, deceit, and similar non-physical conduct) may criminalize ambiguous online interactions and raise due‑process concerns about proving intent and culpability for users, minors, and families.
Adding severe criminal penalties (including life in some cases) for conduct tied to compelled behavior risks very long sentences in complex cases where causation (for example, whether coercion caused a suicide) is disputed, affecting defendants and their families.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Creates a new federal crime making it illegal to intentionally compel a minor, by mail or any means of interstate or foreign commerce or within U.S. special maritime and territorial jurisdiction, to engage in self-harm, animal crushing, abusive or degrading nonsexual conduct that could be criminal, or sexually explicit conduct. Penalties range from up to 10 years in prison (or fines) to up to life if the compelled conduct causes death. The bill also defines “compel” to include threats, extortion, blackmail, fraud, deceit, or manipulation and updates a juvenile jurisdiction cross-reference in federal law (with an apparent cross-reference typo in the text).
Introduced December 16, 2025 by Andrew S. Biggs · Last progress January 13, 2026