II 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1346 

To penalize crimes against humanity, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 24, 2009 

Mr. DURBIN (for himself, Mr. LEAHY, and Mr. FEINGOLD) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the 

Judiciary 

A BILL 

To penalize crimes against humanity, 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 ‘‘Crimes Against Hu5 manity Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ACCOUNTABILITY FOR CRIMES AGAINST HUMAN7 ITY. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Part 1 of title 18, United States 

9 Code, is amended by inserting after chapter 25 the fol10 lowing: 


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1 ‘‘CHAPTER 25A—CRIMES AGAINST 

2 HUMANITY 

‘‘Sec. 

‘‘519. Crimes against humanity. 

3 ‘‘§ 519. Crimes against humanity 

4 ‘‘(a) OFFENSE.—It shall be unlawful for any person 

5 to commit or engage in, as part of a widespread and sys6 tematic attack directed against any civilian population, 

7 and with knowledge of the attack— 

8 ‘‘(1) conduct that, if it occurred in the United 

9 States, would violate— 

10 ‘‘(A) section 1111 of this title (relating to 

11 murder); 

12 ‘‘(B) section 1581(a) of this title (relating 

13 to peonage); 

14 ‘‘(C) section 1583(a)(1) of this title (relat15 ing to kidnapping or carrying away individuals 

16 for involuntary servitude or slavery); 

17 ‘‘(D) section 1584(a) of this title (relating 

18 to sale into involuntary servitude); 

19 ‘‘(E) section 1589(a) of this title (relating 

20 to forced labor); or 

21 ‘‘(F) section 1590(a) of this title (relating 

22 to trafficking with respect to peonage, slavery, 

23 involuntary servitude, or forced labor); 


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1 ‘‘(2) conduct that, if it occurred in the special 

2 maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United 

3 States, would violate— 

4 ‘‘(A) section 1591(a) of this title (relating 

5 to sex trafficking of children or by force, fraud, 

6 or coercion); 

7 ‘‘(B) section 2241(a) of this title (relating 

8 to aggravated sexual abuse by force or threat); 

9 or 

10 ‘‘(C) section 2242 of this title (relating to 

11 sexual abuse); 

12 ‘‘(3) conduct that, if it occurred in the special 

13 maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United 

14 States, and without regard to whether the offender 

15 is the parent of the victim, would violate section 

16 1201(a) of this title (relating to kidnapping); 

17 ‘‘(4) conduct that, if it occurred in the United 

18 States, would violate section 1203(a) of this title (re19 lating to hostage taking), notwithstanding any ex20 ception under subsection (b) of section 1203; 

21 ‘‘(5) conduct that would violate section 2340A 

22 of this title (relating to torture); 

23 ‘‘(6) extermination; 

24 ‘‘(7) national, ethnic, racial, or religious cleans25 ing; 


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1 ‘‘(8) arbitrary detention; or 

2 ‘‘(9) imposed measures intended to prevent 

3 births. 

4 ‘‘(b) PENALTY.—Any person who violates subsection 

5 (a), or attempts or conspires to violate subsection (a)— 

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

7 not more than 20 years, or both; and 

8 ‘‘(2) if the death of any person results from the 

9 violation of subsection (a), shall be fined under this 

10 title and imprisoned for any term of years or for life. 

11 ‘‘(c) JURISDICTION.—There is jurisdiction over a vio12 lation of subsection (a), and any attempt or conspiracy 

13 to commit a violation of subsection (a), if— 

14 ‘‘(1) the alleged offender is a national of the 

15 United States or an alien lawfully admitted for per16 manent residence; 

17 ‘‘(2) the alleged offender is a stateless person 

18 whose habitual residence is in the United States; 

19 ‘‘(3) the alleged offender is present in the 

20 United States, regardless of the nationality of the al21 leged offender; or 

22 ‘‘(4) the offense is committed in whole or in 

23 part within the United States. 

24 ‘‘(d) NONAPPLICABILITY OF CERTAIN LIMITA25 TIONS.—Notwithstanding section 3282 of this title, in the 


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1 case of an offense under this section, an indictment may 

2 be found, or information instituted, at any time without 

3 limitation. 

4 ‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

5 ‘‘(1) ARBITRARY DETENTION.—The term ‘arbi6 trary detention’ means imprisonment or other severe 

7 deprivation of physical liberty except on such 

8 grounds and in accordance with such procedure as 

9 are established by the law of the jurisdiction where 

10 such imprisonment or other severe deprivation of 

11 physical liberty took place. 

12 ‘‘(2) ARMED GROUP.—The term ‘armed group’ 

13 means any army, militia, or other military organiza14 tion, whether or not it is State-sponsored, excluding 

15 any group assembled solely for nonviolent political 

16 association. 

17 ‘‘(3) ATTACK DIRECTED AGAINST ANY CIVILIAN

18 POPULATION.—The term ‘attack directed against 

19 any civilian population’ means a course of conduct 

20 in which a civilian population is a primary rather 

21 than an incidental target. 

22 ‘‘(4) ETHNIC GROUP; NATIONAL GROUP; RACIAL

23 GROUP; RELIGIOUS GROUP.—The terms ‘ethnic 

24 group’, ‘national group’, ‘racial group’, and ‘religious 


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1 group’ have the meanings given those terms in sec2 tion 1093 of this title. 

3 ‘‘(5) EXTERMINATION.—The term ‘extermi4 nation’ means subjecting a civilian population to 

5 conditions of life that are intended to cause the 

6 physical destruction of the group in whole or in part. 

7 ‘‘(6) LAWFULLY ADMITTED FOR PERMANENT

8 RESIDENCE; NATIONAL OF THE UNITED STATES.— 

9 The terms ‘lawfully admitted for permanent resi10 dence’ and ‘national of the United States’ have the 

11 meanings give those terms in section 101(a) of the 

12 Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 

13 1101(a)). 

14 ‘‘(7) NATIONAL, ETHNIC, RACIAL, OR RELI15 GIOUS CLEANSING.—The term ‘national, ethnic, ra16 cial, or religious cleansing’ means the intentional 

17 and forced displacement from 1 country to another 

18 or within a country of any national group, ethnic 

19 group, racial group, or religious group in whole or 

20 in part, by expulsion or other coercive acts from the 

21 area in which they are lawfully present, except when 

22 the displacement is in accordance with applicable 

23 laws of armed conflict that permit involuntary and 

24 temporary displacement of a population to ensure its 


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1 security or when imperative military reasons so de2 mand. 

3 ‘‘(8) SYSTEMATIC.—The term ‘systematic’ 

4 means pursuant to or in furtherance of the policy of 

5 a State or armed group. 

6 ‘‘(9) WIDESPREAD.—The term ‘widespread’ 

7 means involving multiple victims.’’. 

8 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of chapters 

9 for part 1 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by 

10 inserting after the item relating to chapter 25 the fol11 lowing: 

‘‘25A. Crimes against humanity ............................................................... 519’’. 

Æ 


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