Cite as: 523 U. S. 155 (1998)
Opinion of the Court
increasingly "enact[ed] for the enclaves specific criminal statutes" and "to that extent, [has] excluded the state laws from that field").
Finally, the federal criminal statute before us applies only on federal enclaves. § 1111(b). Hence, there is a sense in which assimilation of Louisiana law would treat those living on federal enclaves differently from those living elsewhere in Louisiana, for it would subject them to two sets of "territorial" criminal laws in addition to the general federal criminal laws that apply nationwide. See supra, at 163. Given all these considerations, it is perhaps not surprising that we have been unable to find a single reported case in which a federal court has used the ACA to assimilate a state murder law to fill a supposed "gap" in the federal murder statute.
The Government, arguing to the contrary, says that Louisiana's provision is a type of "child protection" statute, filling a "gap" in federal enclave-related criminal law due to the fact that Congress left "child abuse," like much other domestic relations law, to the States. See Brief for United States 23, 29-30. The fact that Congress, when writing various criminal statutes, has focused directly upon "child protection" weakens the force of this argument. See, e. g., 21 U. S. C. §§ 859(a)-(b) (person selling drugs to minors is subject to twice the maximum sentence as one who deals to adults, and repeat offenders who sell to children subject to three times the normal maximum); 18 U. S. C. § 1201(g) ("special rule" for kidnaping offenses involving minors, with enhanced penalties in certain cases); §§ 2241(c) and 2243 (prohibiting sexual abuse of minors); § 2251 (prohibiting sexual exploitation of children); § 2251A (selling and buying of children); § 2258 (failure to report child abuse). And, without expressing any view on the merits of lower court cases that have assimilated state child abuse statutes despite the presence of a federal assault law, § 113, see, e. g., United States v. Brown, 608 F. 2d, at 553-554; United States v. Fesler, 781 F. 2d 384, 390-391 (CA5 1986), we note that the
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