Loan Sharking Isn't a Violent Crime? (CRS Report for Congress)
| Release Date |
Aug. 22, 2018 |
| Report Number |
LSB10190 |
| Report Type |
Legal Sidebar |
| Authors |
Charles Doyle |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
Summary:
The term “loan shark” conjures up images of usurious loans and violent collection methods. Nevertheless,
the federal crime of loan sharking does not qualify as a violent felony under the Armed Career Criminal
Act (ACCA) according to a recent decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
(Sixth Circuit). The Sixth Circuit’s decision in Raines v. United States is in part the result of fallout from
the Supreme Court’s decision in Johnson v. United States, which held the ACCA’s residual clause
unconstitutionally vague. (For further information concerning judicial construction of the term “violent
felony” and similar terms, see CRS Report R45220).
The ACCA requires a court to impose a sentence of imprisonment for not less than 15 years imprisonment
for a defendant convicted of unlawful possession of a firearm who has three or more prior violent felony
or serious drug offense convictions. The ACCA defines a violent felony in three alternative clauses as a
felony that “(i) has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the
person of another; or (ii) is … extortion … [(iii)] or otherwise involves conduct that presents a serious
potential risk of physical injury to another.” This third clause is sometimes referred to as the “residual
clause.”
