Editing Carjacking (section)

====Federal Anti-Car Theft Act of 1992====

{{See also|Murder of Pam Basu}}

In 1992, Congress, in the aftermath of a spate of violent carjackings (including some in which the victims were murdered), passed the Federal Anti-Car Theft Act of 1992 (FACTA), the first federal carjacking law, making it a [[federal crime]] (punishable by 15 years to [[life imprisonment]]) to use a firearm to steal "through force or violence or intimidation" a motor vehicle that had been shipped through [[interstate commerce]].<ref name="Cherbonneau"/><ref name=":0" /> The 1992 Act, codified at 18 U.S.C. § 2119, took effect on October 25, 1992.<ref name="Folks">Mike Folks, [https://web.archive.org/web/20131224112434/http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1994-01-17/news/9401170203_1_federal-carjacking-law-carjacking-cases-pamela-basu Carjacking Law Getting Little Use: Few Prosecutions Occur Despite Increase in Number of Cases], ''Sun-Sentinel'' (January 17, 1994).</ref><ref name="18 U.S.C. § 2119">[https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2119 18 U.S.C. § 2119].</ref> However, only a small number of federal prosecutions were imposed for carjacking the year after the act was enacted, in part because many federal carjacking cases were turned over to state prosecutions because they do not meet [[United States Department of Justice|U.S. Department of Justice]] criteria.<ref name="Folks"/> The Federal Death Penalty Act, part of the [[Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994]], an omnibus crime bill, made sixty new federal crimes punishable by the [[Capital punishment by the United States federal government|federal death penalty]]; among these were the killing of a victim in the commission of carjacking.<ref name="Cherbonneau"/><ref name="18 U.S.C. § 2119"/><ref>Amy D'Olivio, "Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act" in ''Encyclopedia of Law Enforcement'' (Sage, 2004: eds. Larry E. Sullivan et al.), p. 896.</ref>

Throughout 1993, articles about carjackings appeared at the rate of more than one a week in newspapers throughout the country.<ref>"Carjacking Reports Increase In Area -- Police Told Of Five Incidents Over Thanksgiving Holiday." ''Seattle Times'', Saturday, November 26, 1994</ref> The November 29, 1992, killing of two [[Osceola County, Florida]], men by carjackers using a stolen [[9×19mm Parabellum|9 mm]] pistol resulted in the first federal prosecution of a fatal carjacking.<ref>Henry Pierson Curtis, [https://www.orlandosentinel.com/1994/01/30/youths-steal-guns-to-steal-youths-lives/ Youths Steal Guns To Steal Youths' Lives; The Gun Used In The Nation's First Federal Carjacking Case Was Bought Legally, Then Stolen], ''Orlando Sentinel'', January 30, 1994.</ref>