Under current law, carrying out female genital mutilation (FGM) on someone below the age of 18 is a crime, punishable by fine or imprisonment. H.R. 6100 would expand the scope of punishable offenses related to FGM to include:
Attempting or conspiring to perform FGM,
Being the parent, guardian, or caretaker of a minor and facilitating or consenting to FGM of that minor, and
Transporting a minor for the purpose of subjecting her to FGM.
H.R. 6100 also would prohibit, as a legal defense to prosecution for such crimes, the assertion by a defendant that FGM is required as a matter of religion, custom, tradition, or ritual.
Because H.R. 6100 would establish new federal crimes related to FGM, people who violate the bill’s provisions could be subject to criminal fines, so the federal government might collect additional fines under the legislation. Criminal fines are recorded as revenues, deposited in the Crime Victims Fund, and later spent without further appropriation. CBO expects any additional revenues and associated direct spending would not be significant because relatively few additional cases probably would be affected by the bill.
H.R. 6100 also would increase the maximum prison sentence for FGM offenses from 5 years to 10 years. As a result, new offenders could face longer prison sentences. CBO expects that any costs to the federal prison system resulting from longer sentences would be incurred after 2025.
H.R. 6100 also would require the Attorney General, in consultation with other federal agencies, to report annually to the Congress on the estimated number of women and girls at risk of or subjected to FGM each year and on actions taken by government agencies to combat the practice. CBO estimates that the cost to produce the report would not be significant.
