116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 488 

AN ACT 

To amend title 18, United States Code, to specify lynching 

as a deprivation of civil rights, and for other purposes. 

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

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Justice for Victims 

3 of Lynching Act of 2019’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress finds the following: 

6 (1) The crime of lynching succeeded slavery as 

7 the ultimate expression of racism in the United 

8 States following Reconstruction. 

9 (2) Lynching was a widely acknowledged prac10 tice in the United States until the middle of the 

11 20th century. 

12 (3) Lynching was a crime that occurred 

13 throughout the United States, with documented inci14 dents in all but 4 States. 

15 (4) At least 4,742 people, predominantly Afri16 can Americans, were reported lynched in the United 

17 States between 1882 and 1968. 

18 (5) Ninety-nine percent of all perpetrators of 

19 lynching escaped from punishment by State or local 

20 officials. 

21 (6) Lynching prompted African Americans to 

22 form the National Association for the Advancement 

23 of Colored People (referred to in this section as the 

24 ‘‘NAACP’’) and prompted members of B’nai B’rith 

25 to found the Anti-Defamation League. 
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1 (7) Mr. Walter White, as a member of the 

2 NAACP and later as the executive secretary of the 

3 NAACP from 1931 to 1955, meticulously inves4 tigated lynchings in the United States and worked 

5 tirelessly to end segregation and racialized terror. 

6 (8) Nearly 200 anti-lynching bills were intro7 duced in Congress during the first half of the 20th 

8 century. 

9 (9) Between 1890 and 1952, 7 Presidents peti10 tioned Congress to end lynching. 

11 (10) Between 1920 and 1940, the House of 

12 Representatives passed 3 strong anti-lynching meas13 ures. 

14 (11) Protection against lynching was the min15 imum and most basic of Federal responsibilities, and 

16 the Senate considered but failed to enact anti-lynch17 ing legislation despite repeated requests by civil 

18 rights groups, Presidents, and the House of Rep19 resentatives to do so. 

20 (12) The publication of ‘‘Without Sanctuary: 

21 Lynching Photography in America’’ helped bring 

22 greater awareness and proper recognition of the vic23 tims of lynching. 
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1 (13) Only by coming to terms with history can 

2 the United States effectively champion human rights 

3 abroad. 

4 (14) An apology offered in the spirit of true re5 pentance moves the United States toward reconcili6 ation and may become central to a new under7 standing, on which improved racial relations can be 

8 forged. 

9 (15) Having concluded that a reckoning with 

10 our own history is the only way the country can ef11 fectively champion human rights abroad, 90 Mem12 bers of the United States Senate agreed to Senate 

13 Resolution 39, 109th Congress, on June 13, 2005, 

14 to apologize to the victims of lynching and the de15 scendants of those victims for the failure of the Sen16 ate to enact anti-lynching legislation. 

17 (16) The National Memorial for Peace and Jus18 tice, which opened to the public in Montgomery, Ala19 bama, on April 26, 2018, is the Nation’s first memo20 rial dedicated to the legacy of enslaved Black people, 

21 people terrorized by lynching, African Americans hu22 miliated by racial segregation and Jim Crow, and 

23 people of color burdened with contemporary pre24 sumptions of guilt and police violence. 
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1 (17) Notwithstanding the Senate’s apology and 

2 the heightened awareness and education about the 

3 Nation’s legacy with lynching, it is wholly necessary 

4 and appropriate for the Congress to enact legisla5 tion, after 100 years of unsuccessful legislative ef6 forts, finally to make lynching a Federal crime. 

7 (18) Further, it is the sense of Congress that 

8 criminal action by a group increases the likelihood 

9 that the criminal object of that group will be suc10 cessfully attained and decreases the probability that 

11 the individuals involved will depart from their path 

12 of criminality. Therefore, it is appropriate to specify 

13 criminal penalties for the crime of lynching, or any 

14 attempt or conspiracy to commit lynching. 

15 (19) The United States Senate agreed to unani16 mously Senate Resolution 118, 115th Congress, on 

17 April 5, 2017, ‘‘[c]ondemning hate crime and any 

18 other form of racism, religious or ethnic bias, dis19 crimination, incitement to violence, or animus tar20 geting a minority in the United States’’ and taking 

21 notice specifically of Federal Bureau of Investigation 

22 statistics demonstrating that ‘‘among single-bias 

23 hate crime incidents in the United States, 59.2 per24 cent of victims were targeted due to racial, ethnic, 

25 or ancestral bias, and among those victims, 52.2 
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1 percent were victims of crimes motivated by the of2 fenders’ anti-Black or anti-African American bias’’. 

3 (20) On September 14, 2017, President Donald 

4 J. Trump signed into law Senate Joint Resolution 

5 49 (Public Law 115–58; 131 Stat. 1149), wherein 

6 Congress ‘‘condemn[ed] the racist violence and do7 mestic terrorist attack that took place between Au8 gust 11 and August 12, 2017, in Charlottesville, 

9 Virginia’’ and ‘‘urg[ed] the President and his admin10 istration to speak out against hate groups that 

11 espouse racism, extremism, xenophobia, anti-Semi12 tism, and White supremacy; and use all resources 

13 available to the President and the President’s Cabi14 net to address the growing prevalence of those hate 

15 groups in the United States’’. 

16 (21) Senate Joint Resolution 49 (Public Law 

17 115–58; 131 Stat. 1149) specifically took notice of 

18 ‘‘hundreds of torch-bearing White nationalists, 

19 White supremacists, Klansmen, and neo-Nazis [who] 

20 chanted racist, anti-Semitic, and anti-immigrant slo21 gans and violently engaged with counter-demonstra22 tors on and around the grounds of the University of 

23 Virginia in Charlottesville’’ and that these groups 

24 ‘‘reportedly are organizing similar events in other 

25 cities in the United States and communities every-
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1 where are concerned about the growing and open 

2 display of hate and violence being perpetrated by 

3 those groups’’. 

4 (22) Lynching was a pernicious and pervasive 

5 tool that was used to interfere with multiple aspects 

6 of life—including the exercise of Federally protected 

7 rights, as enumerated in section 245 of title 18, 

8 United States Code, housing rights, as enumerated 

9 in section 901 of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 (42 

10 U.S.C. 3631), and the free exercise of religion, as 

11 enumerated in section 247 of title 18, United States 

12 Code. Interference with these rights was often effec13 tuated by multiple offenders and groups, rather than 

14 isolated individuals. Therefore, prohibiting conspir15 acies to violate each of these rights recognizes the 

16 history of lynching in the United States and serves 

17 to prohibit its use in the future. 

18 SEC. 3. LYNCHING. 

19 (a) OFFENSE.—Chapter 13 of title 18, United States 

20 Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: 

21 ‘‘§ 250. Lynching 

22 ‘‘Whoever conspires with another person to violate 

23 section 245, 247, or 249 of this title or section 901 of 

24 the Civil Rights Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3631) shall be 

25 punished in the same manner as a completed violation of 
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1 such section, except that if the maximum term of impris2 onment for such completed violation is less than 10 years, 

3 the person may be imprisoned for not more than 10 

4 years.’’. 

5 (b) TABLE OF SECTIONS AMENDMENT.—The table of 

6 sections for chapter 13 of title 18, United States Code, 

7 is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 

8 249 the following: 

‘‘250. Lynching.’’. 

Passed the Senate February 14, 2019. 

Attest: 

Secretary. 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 488 

AN ACT 

To amend title 18, United States Code, to specify 

other purposes. lynching as a deprivation of civil rights, and for