On the recordJuly 28, 1997
Mr. Speaker, last year the House passed and President Clinton signed into law our colleague's, the gentleman from North Carolina [Mr. Jones], War Crimes Act of 1996. That bill fulfilled the obligation the United States undertook in 1955 when the Senate ratified the Geneva Conventions for the Protection of Victims of War. The Conventions require that signatory countries enact legislation punishing grave breaches of the Conventions. The Jones bill created a new section 2441 of title 18. The section provides that the perpetrator of a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions taking place inside or outside the United States shall be fined, imprisoned or, where death results, subject to the penalty of death. The section grants jurisdiction to Federal courts where the perpetrator or the victim is a member of the armed forces of the United States or a national of the United States. Today we are considering the Jones followup legislation.
Source
govinfo.gov
