Sponsors (22)
The bill strengthens and funds free, enforceable lifetime protections for sexual and violent crime victims, but does so by imposing broad, potentially hard-to-modify communication bans that raise free-speech, due-process, and administrative-burden concerns for defendants, third parties, and federal justice officials.
Victims of sexual and violent crimes (especially women and youth) gain lifetime protection from unwanted contact by the convicted offender through court-ordered prohibitions.
Victims can obtain these protective orders without paying any fee, reducing financial barriers to accessing protection.
Courts are given a clear enforcement mechanism—treating violations as contempt—so prohibited contact can be punished and enforced through the justice system.
People convicted of certain offenses (including federal employees when applicable) face lifetime, broad restrictions on communication that may be difficult to modify even after circumstances change, limiting rehabilitation and reintegration options.
A broad definition of “contact” could criminalize indirect or automated interactions (social media messages, intermediaries, third parties), creating free‑speech and due‑process risks for defendants and for uninvolved third parties.
Narrow pathways to terminate or modify the prohibition could leave people whose convictions are overturned or substantially changed unable to restore lawful contact rights without costly litigation.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Allows federal courts at sentencing to issue lifetime orders preventing convicted defendants from contacting victims for listed serious federal offenses, enforceable as contempt.
Official title: To amend title 18, United States Code, to provide for the issuance of natural lifetime injunctions for certain victims.
Introduced April 23, 2026 by Abraham J. Hamadeh · Last progress April 23, 2026
Creates a federal rule allowing courts at sentencing to issue lifetime orders that bar a convicted defendant from contacting a victim for certain serious federal offenses. Orders can be requested by the government (with the victim’s consent) or directly by the victim, are served at sentencing, and violations are enforceable as contempt of court. Specifies which federal crimes qualify, defines contact broadly to cover direct and indirect communications (including electronic and third-party contact), prohibits charging victims any fee for the order, and sets narrow grounds and a procedure for terminating or suspending an order later (motions, hearing, and possible evidence).