Identity Theft Enhancement Act

by Jason Chavis

Overview

The Identity Theft Penalty Enhancement Act is a law geared towards preventing and penalizing those responsible for committing identity theft. It provides strict guidelines and funding for the government to investigate and prosecute criminals.
ID Cards

History

President George W. Bush signed the Identity Theft Penalty Enhancement Act on July 15, 2004. This was an amendment to Title 18 of the United States Code.
Function

According to the law itself, identity theft occurs whenever someone takes or transfers some sort of identification of a person with the intent of committing fraud.
Features

The Identity Theft Penalty Enhancement Act penalizes those convicted of the crime with two additional years of imprisonment on top of the normal felony penalty.
Significance

The Act also gave additional funds of $2,000,000 to the Justice Department to pursue credit card and other fraud cases.
Considerations

According to the U.S. Sentencing Commission, amendments can be made to the sentencing guidelines in the future if needed, specifically if the commission determines that felons who steal information from their workplace need stricter enforcement. For example, if a person abuses his position in a credit card company to steal a large volume of credit card numbers, the commission can mandate a longer sentence.
Types

There are a number of types of identity theft according to the Act. Examples of these include bank account fraud, bankruptcy fraud, credit card fraud, money laundering and mail fraud. Terrorism is also addressed in the law. This provides for additional charges to be levied against an individual who commits identity theft for the purpose of committing an act of terrorism.

Overview