II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 488 

To amend title 18, United States Code, to specify lynching as a deprivation 

of civil rights, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 14, 2019 

Ms. HARRIS (for herself, Mr. BOOKER, Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina, Mr. 

BLUMENTHAL, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Mr. JONES, Mr. REED, Ms. WARREN, 

Mrs. MURRAY, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. BROWN, Mr. KING, Mr. MARKEY, 

Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mr. COONS, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. 

KAINE, Ms. DUCKWORTH, Mr. WARNER, Ms. CORTEZ MASTO, Mr. DURBIN, Mrs. SHAHEEN, Mr. WYDEN, Ms. HASSAN, Mr. MURPHY, Mrs. 

GILLIBRAND, Mr. TILLIS, Mr. RUBIO, Ms. SMITH, Mr. CARDIN, Mrs. 

FISCHER, Mr. SANDERS, Ms. STABENOW, Mr. PERDUE, Mr. BENNET, 

Ms. COLLINS, Mr. LANKFORD, Mr. INHOFE, Mr. ISAKSON, Mrs. HYDESMITH, Ms. ERNST, Mr. GRASSLEY, Mrs. CAPITO, Mr. CASSIDY, Mr. 

PORTMAN, and Ms. MURKOWSKI) introduced the following bill; which was 

read twice, considered, read the third time, and passed 

A BILL 

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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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

5 of Lynching Act of 2019’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) The crime of lynching succeeded slavery as 

4 the ultimate expression of racism in the United 

5 States following Reconstruction. 

6 (2) Lynching was a widely acknowledged prac7 tice in the United States until the middle of the 

8 20th century. 

9 (3) Lynching was a crime that occurred 

10 throughout the United States, with documented inci11 dents in all but 4 States. 

12 (4) At least 4,742 people, predominantly Afri13 can Americans, were reported lynched in the United 

14 States between 1882 and 1968. 

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

16 lynching escaped from punishment by State or local 

17 officials. 

18 (6) Lynching prompted African Americans to 

19 form the National Association for the Advancement 

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

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

22 to found the Anti-Defamation League. 

23 (7) Mr. Walter White, as a member of the 

24 NAACP and later as the executive secretary of the 

25 NAACP from 1931 to 1955, meticulously invesVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:03 Feb 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S488.CPS S488

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1 tigated lynchings in the United States and worked 

2 tirelessly to end segregation and racialized terror. 

3 (8) Nearly 200 anti-lynching bills were intro4 duced in Congress during the first half of the 20th 

5 century. 

6 (9) Between 1890 and 1952, 7 Presidents peti7 tioned Congress to end lynching. 

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

9 Representatives passed 3 strong anti-lynching meas10 ures. 

11 (11) Protection against lynching was the min12 imum and most basic of Federal responsibilities, and 

13 the Senate considered but failed to enact anti-lynch14 ing legislation despite repeated requests by civil 

15 rights groups, Presidents, and the House of Rep16 resentatives to do so. 

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

18 Lynching Photography in America’’ helped bring 

19 greater awareness and proper recognition of the vic20 tims of lynching. 

21 (13) Only by coming to terms with history can 

22 the United States effectively champion human rights 

23 abroad. 

24 (14) An apology offered in the spirit of true re25 pentance moves the United States toward reconciliVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:03 Feb 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S488.CPS S488

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1 ation and may become central to a new under2 standing, on which improved racial relations can be 

3 forged. 

4 (15) Having concluded that a reckoning with 

5 our own history is the only way the country can ef6 fectively champion human rights abroad, 90 Mem7 bers of the United States Senate agreed to Senate 

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

9 to apologize to the victims of lynching and the de10 scendants of those victims for the failure of the Sen11 ate to enact anti-lynching legislation. 

12 (16) The National Memorial for Peace and Jus13 tice, which opened to the public in Montgomery, Ala14 bama, on April 26, 2018, is the Nation’s first memo15 rial dedicated to the legacy of enslaved Black people, 

16 people terrorized by lynching, African Americans hu17 miliated by racial segregation and Jim Crow, and 

18 people of color burdened with contemporary pre19 sumptions of guilt and police violence. 

20 (17) Notwithstanding the Senate’s apology and 

21 the heightened awareness and education about the 

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

23 and appropriate for the Congress to enact legisla24 tion, after 100 years of unsuccessful legislative ef25 forts, finally to make lynching a Federal crime. 


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

2 criminal action by a group increases the likelihood 

3 that the criminal object of that group will be suc4 cessfully attained and decreases the probability that 

5 the individuals involved will depart from their path 

6 of criminality. Therefore, it is appropriate to specify 

7 criminal penalties for the crime of lynching, or any 

8 attempt or conspiracy to commit lynching. 

9 (19) The United States Senate agreed to unani10 mously Senate Resolution 118, 115th Congress, on 

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

12 other form of racism, religious or ethnic bias, dis13 crimination, incitement to violence, or animus tar14 geting a minority in the United States’’ and taking 

15 notice specifically of Federal Bureau of Investigation 

16 statistics demonstrating that ‘‘among single-bias 

17 hate crime incidents in the United States, 59.2 per18 cent of victims were targeted due to racial, ethnic, 

19 or ancestral bias, and among those victims, 52.2 

20 percent were victims of crimes motivated by the of21 fenders’ anti-Black or anti-African American bias’’. 

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

23 J. Trump signed into law Senate Joint Resolution 

24 49 (Public Law 115–58; 131 Stat. 1149), wherein 

25 Congress ‘‘condemn[ed] the racist violence and doVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:03 Feb 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S488.CPS S488

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1 mestic terrorist attack that took place between Au2 gust 11 and August 12, 2017, in Charlottesville, 

3 Virginia’’ and ‘‘urg[ed] the President and his admin4 istration to speak out against hate groups that 

5 espouse racism, extremism, xenophobia, anti-Semi6 tism, and White supremacy; and use all resources 

7 available to the President and the President’s Cabi8 net to address the growing prevalence of those hate 

9 groups in the United States’’. 

10 (21) Senate Joint Resolution 49 (Public Law 

11 115–58; 131 Stat. 1149) specifically took notice of 

12 ‘‘hundreds of torch-bearing White nationalists, 

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

14 chanted racist, anti-Semitic, and anti-immigrant slo15 gans and violently engaged with counter-demonstra16 tors on and around the grounds of the University of 

17 Virginia in Charlottesville’’ and that these groups 

18 ‘‘reportedly are organizing similar events in other 

19 cities in the United States and communities every20 where are concerned about the growing and open 

21 display of hate and violence being perpetrated by 

22 those groups’’. 

23 (22) Lynching was a pernicious and pervasive 

24 tool that was used to interfere with multiple aspects 

25 of life—including the exercise of Federally protected 


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

2 United States Code, housing rights, as enumerated 

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

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

5 enumerated in section 247 of title 18, United States 

6 Code. Interference with these rights was often effec7 tuated by multiple offenders and groups, rather than 

8 isolated individuals. Therefore, prohibiting conspir9 acies to violate each of these rights recognizes the 

10 history of lynching in the United States and serves 

11 to prohibit its use in the future. 

12 SEC. 3. LYNCHING. 

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

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

15 ‘‘§ 250. Lynching 

16 ‘‘Whoever conspires with another person to violate 

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

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

19 punished in the same manner as a completed violation of 

20 such section, except that if the maximum term of impris21 onment for such completed violation is less than 10 years, 

22 the person may be imprisoned for not more than 10 

23 years.’’. 

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

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


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1 is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 

2 249 the following: 

‘‘250. Lynching.’’. 

Æ 


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