I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1437

To establish Federal, State, and local programs for the investigation,

reporting and prevention of bias crimes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 23, 1993

Mr. TORRICELLI introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To establish Federal, State, and local programs for the

investigation, reporting and prevention of bias 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. FINDINGS.

4 The Congress finds that—

5 (1) hate and bias crimes reported in 1992 were

6 greater in number and more violent in nature than

7 in any previous year;

8 (2) bias crimes are far more lethal than other

9 kinds of attacks, with hospitalization of victims oc-
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1 curring four times more often than for other as2 saults;

3 (3) anti-Semitic crimes increased for 5 consecu4 tive years from 1987 to 1991, and anti-Semitic inci5 dents on college campuses increased by 12 percent

6 in 1992;

7 (4) more than 299 active hate groups with a

8 membership of more than 25,000 white supremacists

9 currently operate in 43 states in the United States;

10 (5) just 2,771 of the more than 16,000 law en11 forcement agencies furnished hate crime data to the

12 Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1991; and

13 (6) Federal, State, and local law enforcement

14 officials have indicated that training in the area of

15 bias crimes is inconsistent and officials repeatedly

16 cite the need for uniform training of officers in the

17 investigation and prevention of bias crime.

18 SEC. 2. APPOINTMENT OF DIRECTOR.

19 The Attorney General shall appoint an official to act

20 as the National Director of Bias Crime (referred to in this

21 Act as the ‘‘Director’’).

22 SEC. 3. DUTIES OF DIRECTOR.

23 The Director shall, in cooperation with the appro24 priate Federal, State, and local agencies, including the De25 partment of the Treasury, the Federal Bureau of Inves-
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1 tigation, and the Community Relations Service of the De2 partment of Justice—

3 (1) examine the needs of Federal, State, and

4 local law enforcement agencies in training officers

5 for the investigation and reporting of bias crimes;

6 (2) recommend to the Attorney General policy

7 options for the enhancement of bias crime interdic8 tion and prevention;

9 (3) determine a national curriculum for a train10 the-trainer program to be administered by the Fed11 eral Law Enforcement Training Center;

12 (4) determine a national curriculum for officer

13 training in investigation and reporting of bias crimes

14 to be delivered through the Federal Law Enforce15 ment Training Center;

16 (5) coordinate the bias crime efforts of the De17 partment of the Treasury, Department of Edu18 cation, Department of Justice, Federal Law En19 forcement Training Center, the Federal Bureau of

20 Investigation, and the Community Relations Service

21 of the Department of Justice;

22 (6) develop a national curriculum to be taught

23 as a preventative measure at elementary and second24 ary schools throughout the country;
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1 (7) make available to law enforcement agencies

2 materials pertinent to bias crime investigation and

3 prevention;

4 (8) coordinate technical assistance provided to

5 State and local law enforcement agencies related to

6 the prevention, investigation and prosecution of bias

7 crime;

8 (9) coordinate assistance to victims of bias

9 crime; and

10 (10) award grants to States that have estab11 lished lead agencies to coordinate efforts to combat

12 bias crime and developed innovative programs con13 sistent with the purposes of this Act.

14 SEC. 4. TRAINING REQUIREMENTS.

15 The training programs established by the Director,

16 acting through the Federal Law Enforcement Training

17 Center and in cooperation with the Secretary of the Treas18 ury shall include, at a minimum, the following:

19 (1) Recognition of basic elements of bias crimes

20 and proper initial response procedures.

21 (2) Instruction on how to comply with all Fed22 eral reporting requirements under the National Hate

23 Crimes Statistics Act.
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1 (3) Notification of law enforcement officials re2 garding the history and growth of organized bias

3 groups in the United States.

4 (4) Methods to develop preventative education

5 curriculum for local schools and community youth

6 groups.

7 (5) Methods to cope with the trauma experi8 enced by victims of bias crime.

9 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

10 For purposes of this Act, the term ‘‘train-the-trainer

11 program’’ means a program that teaches selected members

12 of the law enforcement community how to train members

13 of a local law enforcement agency how to investigate and

14 report bias crimes.

15 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

16 There are authorized to be appropriated $2,000,000

17 for each of the fiscal years 1994 through 1996 to carry

18 out the projects under this Act.

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