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The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is amending its regulations that prohibit interment or memorialization of persons who have not been convicted of Federal or State capital crimes or certain sex offenses due to death or flight to avoid prosecution. This action is necessary to implement a new statutory requirement made by section 6 of the National Cemeteries Preservation and Protection Act of 2022 (Public Law 117-355) enacted December 22, 2022.  VA is now required to prohibit interment and 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 amends the maximum possible penalty for sex offender prohibition to apply for conviction cases to include a term of 99 years or more, in addition to the sentence of life imprisonment.  The intended effect of this final rule is to update existing regulations that implement the statutory bar to entitled benefits for individuals who commit certain criminal acts and uphold the dignity and solemnity of VA national cemeteries as national shrines.