Expansion of Prohibition of Interment or Memorialization of Persons Who Committed Certain Crimes

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is amending its regulations that prohibit interment or memorialization of persons who committed Federal or State capital crimes or certain sex offenses. This action is necessary to implement statutory amendments enacted on January 5, 2023. VA is required to prohibit interment or memorialization of a person who is found to have committed a Federal or State crime that would cause the person to be a tier III sex offender for purposes of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act but has not been convicted of such crime due to death or flight to avoid prosecution. This final rule also implements the statutory amendment to the sex offender prohibition to apply in conviction cases in which the person was sentenced to a term of 99 years or more. This final rule also makes corresponding amendments to the regulations that govern VA grant-funded cemeteries. The intended effect of this final rule is to comport the regulations with the amendments to the statutory bar to entitled benefits for individuals who commit certain criminal acts and to uphold the dignity and solemnity of VA national cemeteries as national shrines.