II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1406

To combat hate crimes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JULY 21, 1999

Mr. HATCH introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred

to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To combat hate crimes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. HATE CRIMES.

4 (a) DECLARATIONS.—Congress declares that—

5 (1) further efforts must be taken at all levels of

6 government to respond to the staggering brutality of

7 hate crimes that have riveted public attention and

8 shocked the Nation;

9 (2) hate crimes are prompted by bias and are

10 committed to send a message of hate to targeted

11 communities, usually defined on the basis of immu12 table traits;
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1 (3) the prominent characteristic of a hate crime

2 is that it devastates not just the actual victim and

3 the victim’s family and friends, but frequently sav4 ages the community sharing the traits that caused

5 the victim to be selected;

6 (4) any efforts undertaken by the Federal Gov7 ernment to combat hate crimes must respect the pri8 macy that States and local officials have tradition9 ally been accorded in the criminal prosecution of

10 acts constituting hate crimes; and

11 (5) an overly broad reaction by the Federal

12 Government to this serious problem might ultimately

13 diminish the accountability of State and local offi14 cials in responding to hate crimes and transgress the

15 constitutional limitations on the powers vested in

16 Congress under the Constitution.

17 (b) STUDIES.—

18 (1) COLLECTION OF DATA.—

19 (A) DEFINITION OF HATE CRIME.—In this

20 paragraph, the term ‘‘hate crime’’ means—

21 (i) a crime described in subsection

22 (b)(1) of the first section of the Hate

23 Crime Statistics Act (28 U.S.C. 534 note);

24 and
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1 (ii) a crime that manifests evidence of

2 prejudice based on gender or age.

3 (B) COLLECTION FROM CROSS-SECTION OF

4 STATES.—Not later than 120 days after the

5 date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller

6 General of the United States, in consultation

7 with the National Governors’ Association, shall

8 select 10 jurisdictions with laws classifying cer9 tain types of crimes as hate crimes and 10 ju10 risdictions without such laws from which to col11 lect data described in subparagraph (C) over a

12 12-month period.

13 (C) DATA TO BE COLLECTED.—The data

14 to be collected are—

15 (i) the number of hate crimes that are

16 reported and investigated;

17 (ii) the percentage of hate crimes that

18 are prosecuted and the percentage that re19 sult in conviction;

20 (iii) the length of the sentences im21 posed for crimes classified as hate crimes

22 within a jurisdiction, compared with the

23 length of sentences imposed for similar

24 crimes committed in jurisdictions with no

25 hate crime laws; and
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1 (iv) references to and descriptions of

2 the laws under which the offenders were

3 punished.

4 (D) COSTS.—Participating jurisdictions

5 shall be reimbursed for the reasonable and nec6 essary costs of compiling data under this para7 graph.

8 (2) STUDY OF TRENDS.—

9 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 18

10 months after the date of enactment of this Act,

11 the Comptroller General of the United States

12 and the General Accounting Office shall com13 plete a study that analyzes the data collected

14 under paragraph (1) and under the Hate Crime

15 Statistics Act of 1990 to determine the extent

16 of hate crime activity throughout the country

17 and the success of State and local officials in

18 combating that activity.

19 (B) IDENTIFICATION OF TRENDS.—In the

20 study conducted under subparagraph (A), the

21 Comptroller General of the United States and

22 the General Accounting Office shall identify any

23 trends in the commission of hate crimes specifi24 cally by—

25 (i) geographic region;
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1 (ii) type of crime committed; and

2 (iii) the number of hate crimes that

3 are prosecuted and the number for which

4 convictions are obtained.

5 (c) MODEL STATUTE.—

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—To encourage the identifica7 tion and prosecution of hate crimes throughout the

8 country, the Attorney General shall, through the Na9 tional Conference of Commissioners on Uniform

10 State Laws of the American Law Institute or an11 other appropriate forum, and in consultation with

12 the States, develop a model statute to carry out the

13 goals described in subsection (a) and criminalize acts

14 classified as hate crimes.

15 (2) REQUIREMENTS.—In developing the model

16 statute, the Attorney General shall—

17 (A) include in the model statute crimes

18 that manifest evidence of prejudice; and

19 (B) prepare an analysis of all reasons why

20 any crime motivated by prejudice based on any

21 traits of a victim should or should not be in22 cluded.

23 (d) SUPPORT FOR CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS AND

24 PROSECUTIONS BY STATE AND LOCAL LAW ENFORCE25 MENT OFFICIALS.—
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1 (1) ASSISTANCE OTHER THAN FINANCIAL AS2 SISTANCE.—

3 (A) IN GENERAL.—At the request of a law

4 enforcement official of a State or a political

5 subdivision of a State, the Attorney General,

6 acting through the Director of the Federal Bu7 reau of Investigation, shall provide technical, fo8 rensic, prosecutorial, or any other form of as9 sistance in the criminal investigation or pros10 ecution of any crime that—

11 (i) constitutes a crime of violence (as

12 defined in section 16 of title 18, United

13 States Code);

14 (ii) constitutes a felony under the laws

15 of the State; and

16 (iii) is motivated by prejudice based

17 on the victim’s race, ethnicity, or religion

18 or is a violation of the State’s hate crime

19 law.

20 (B) PRIORITY.—In providing assistance

21 under subparagraph (A), the Attorney General

22 shall give priority to crimes committed by of23 fenders who have committed crimes in more

24 than 1 State.

25 (2) GRANTS.—
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1 (A) IN GENERAL.—There is established a

2 grant program within the Department of Jus3 tice to assist State and local officials in the in4 vestigation and prosecution of hate crimes.

5 (B) ELIGIBILITY.—A State or political

6 subdivision of a State applying for assistance

7 under this paragraph shall—

8 (i) describe the purposes for which the

9 grant is needed; and

10 (ii) certify that the State or political

11 subdivision lacks the resources necessary to

12 investigate or prosecute the hate crime.

13 (C) DEADLINE.—An application for a

14 grant under this paragraph shall be approved

15 or disapproved by the Attorney General not

16 later than 24 hours after the application is sub17 mitted.

18 (D) GRANT AMOUNT.—A grant under this

19 paragraph shall not exceed $100,000 for any

20 single case.

21 (E) REPORT.—Not later than December

22 31, 2001, the Attorney General, in consultation

23 with the National Governors’ Association, shall

24 submit to Congress a report describing the ap25 plications made for grants under this para-
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1 graph, the award of such grants, and the effec2 tiveness of the grant funds awarded.

3 (F) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA4 TIONS.—There is authorized to be appropriated

5 to carry out this paragraph $5,000,000 for each

6 of fiscal years 2000 and 2001.

7 (e) INTERSTATE TRAVEL TO COMMIT HATE

8 CRIME.—

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 13 of title 18,

10 United States Code, is amended by adding at the

11 end the following:

12 ‘‘§ 249. Interstate travel to commit hate crime

13 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—A person, whether or not acting

14 under color of law, who—

15 ‘‘(1) travels across a State line or enters or

16 leaves Indian country in order, by force or threat of

17 force, to willfully injure, intimidate, or interfere

18 with, or by force or threat of force to attempt to in19 jure, intimidate, or interfere with, any person be20 cause of the person’s race, color, religion, or national

21 origin; and

22 ‘‘(2) by force or threat of force, willfully in23 jures, intimidates, or interferes with, or by force or

24 threat of force attempts to willfully injure, intimi-
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1 date, or interfere with any person because of the

2 person’s race, color, religion, or national origin,

3 shall be subject to a penalty under subsection (b).

4 ‘‘(b) PENALTIES.—A person described in subsection

5 (a) who is subject to a penalty under this subsection—

6 ‘‘(1) shall be fined under this title, imprisoned

7 not more than 1 year, or both;

8 ‘‘(2) if bodily injury results or if the violation

9 includes the use, attempted use, or threatened use of

10 a dangerous weapon, explosives, or fire, shall be

11 fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 10

12 years, or both; or

13 ‘‘(3) if death results or if the violation includes

14 kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sex15 ual abuse or an attempt to commit aggravated sex16 ual abuse, or an attempt to kill—

17 ‘‘(A) shall be fined under this title, impris18 oned for any term of years or for life, or both;

19 or

20 ‘‘(B) may be sentenced to death.’’.

21 (2) TECHNICAL AMENDMENT.—The analysis for

22 chapter 13 of title 18, United States Code, is

23 amended by adding at the end the following:

‘‘249. Interstate travel to commit hate crime.’’.

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