II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 622

To enhance Federal enforcement of hate crimes, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MARCH 16, 1999

Mr. KENNEDY (for himself, Mr. SPECTER, Mr. WYDEN, Mr. SCHUMER, Mr.

SMITH of Oregon, Mr. DASCHLE, Mr. LEAHY, Mr. TORRICELLI, Mr.

AKAKA, Mr. BIDEN, Mr. BINGAMAN, Mrs. BOXER, Mr. BRYAN, Mr.

CHAFEE, Mr. CLELAND, Mr. DODD, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. HARKIN, Mr. JEFFORDS, Mr. JOHNSON, Mr. KERREY, Mr. KERRY, Ms. LANDRIEU, Mr.

LAUTENBERG, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. LIEBERMAN, Ms. MIKULSKI, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr. REED, Mr. REID, Mr. ROBB, Mr. ROCKEFELLER, Mr. SARBANES, and Mr. WELLSTONE) introduced the following bill; which was

read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To enhance Federal enforcement of hate crimes, 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 ‘‘Hate Crimes Preven5 tion Act of 1999’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress finds that—
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1 (1) the incidence of violence motivated by the

2 actual or perceived race, color, national origin, reli3 gion, sexual orientation, gender, or disability of the

4 victim poses a serious national problem;

5 (2) such violence disrupts the tranquility and

6 safety of communities and is deeply divisive;

7 (3) existing Federal law is inadequate to ad8 dress this problem;

9 (4) such violence affects interstate commerce in

10 many ways, including—

11 (A) by impeding the movement of members

12 of targeted groups and forcing such members to

13 move across State lines to escape the incidence

14 or risk of such violence; and

15 (B) by preventing members of targeted

16 groups from purchasing goods and services, ob17 taining or sustaining employment or partici18 pating in other commercial activity;

19 (5) perpetrators cross State lines to commit

20 such violence;

21 (6) instrumentalities of interstate commerce are

22 used to facilitate the commission of such violence;

23 (7) such violence is committed using articles

24 that have traveled in interstate commerce;
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1 (8) violence motivated by bias that is a relic of

2 slavery can constitute badges and incidents of slav3 ery;

4 (9) although many State and local authorities

5 are now and will continue to be responsible for pros6 ecuting the overwhelming majority of violent crimes

7 in the United States, including violent crimes moti8 vated by bias, Federal jurisdiction over certain vio9 lent crimes motivated by bias is necessary to supple10 ment State and local jurisdiction and ensure that

11 justice is achieved in each case;

12 (10) Federal jurisdiction over certain violent

13 crimes motivated by bias enables Federal, State, and

14 local authorities to work together as partners in the

15 investigation and prosecution of such crimes; and

16 (11) the problem of hate crime is sufficiently

17 serious, widespread, and interstate in nature as to

18 warrant Federal assistance to States and local juris19 dictions.

20 SEC. 3. DEFINITION OF HATE CRIME.

21 In this Act, the term ‘‘hate crime’’ has the same

22 meaning as in section 280003(a) of the Violent Crime

23 Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (28 U.S.C.

24 994 note).
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1 SEC. 4. PROHIBITION OF CERTAIN ACTS OF VIOLENCE.

2 Section 245 of title 18, United States Code, is

3 amended—

4 (1) by redesignating subsections (c) and (d) as

5 subsections (d) and (e), respectively; and

6 (2) by inserting after subsection (b) the fol7 lowing:

8 ‘‘(c)(1) Whoever, whether or not acting under color

9 of law, willfully causes bodily injury to any person or,

10 through the use of fire, a firearm, or an explosive device,

11 attempts to cause bodily injury to any person, because of

12 the actual or perceived race, color, religion, or national

13 origin of any person—

14 ‘‘(A) shall be imprisoned not more than 10

15 years, or fined in accordance with this title, or both;

16 and

17 ‘‘(B) shall be imprisoned for any term of years

18 or for life, or fined in accordance with this title, or

19 both if—

20 ‘‘(i) death results from the acts committed

21 in violation of this paragraph; or

22 ‘‘(ii) the acts committed in violation of this

23 paragraph include kidnapping or an attempt to

24 kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse or an attempt

25 to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an at26 tempt to kill.
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1 ‘‘(2)(A) Whoever, whether or not acting under color

2 of law, in any circumstance described in subparagraph

3 (B), willfully causes bodily injury to any person or,

4 through the use of fire, a firearm, or an explosive device,

5 attempts to cause bodily injury to any person, because of

6 the actual or perceived religion, gender, sexual orientation,

7 or disability of any person—

8 ‘‘(i) shall be imprisoned not more than 10

9 years, or fined in accordance with this title, or both;

10 and

11 ‘‘(ii) shall be imprisoned for any term of years

12 or for life, or fined in accordance with this title, or

13 both, if—

14 ‘‘(I) death results from the acts committed

15 in violation of this paragraph; or

16 ‘‘(II) the acts committed in violation of

17 this paragraph include kidnapping or an at18 tempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse or an

19 attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or

20 an attempt to kill.

21 ‘‘(B) For purposes of subparagraph (A), the cir22 cumstances described in this subparagraph are that—

23 ‘‘(i) in connection with the offense, the defend24 ant or the victim travels in interstate or foreign

25 commerce, uses a facility or instrumentality of inter-
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1 state or foreign commerce, or engages in any activity

2 affecting interstate or foreign commerce; or

3 ‘‘(ii) the offense is in or affects interstate or

4 foreign commerce.’’.

5 SEC. 5. DUTIES OF FEDERAL SENTENCING COMMISSION.

6 (a) AMENDMENT OF FEDERAL SENTENCING GUIDE7 LINES.—Pursuant to its authority under section 994 of

8 title 28, United States Code, the United States Sentencing

9 Commission shall study the issue of adult recruitment of

10 juveniles to commit hate crimes and shall, if appropriate,

11 amend the Federal sentencing guidelines to provide sen12 tencing enhancements (in addition to the sentencing en13 hancement provided for the use of a minor during the

14 commission of an offense) for adult defendants who recruit

15 juveniles to assist in the commission of hate crimes.

16 (b) CONSISTENCY WITH OTHER GUIDELINES.—In

17 carrying out this section, the United States Sentencing

18 Commission shall—

19 (1) ensure that there is reasonable consistency

20 with other Federal sentencing guidelines; and

21 (2) avoid duplicative punishments for substan22 tially the same offense.

23 SEC. 6. GRANT PROGRAM.

24 (a) AUTHORITY TO MAKE GRANTS.—The Office of

25 Justice Programs of the Department of Justice shall make
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1 grants, in accordance with such regulations as the Attor2 ney General may prescribe, to State and local programs

3 designed to combat hate crimes committed by juveniles,

4 including programs to train local law enforcement officers

5 in investigating, prosecuting, and preventing hate crimes.

6 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There

7 are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be

8 necessary to carry out this section.

9 SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION FOR ADDITIONAL PERSONNEL TO

10 ASSIST STATE AND LOCAL LAW ENFORCE11 MENT.

12 There are authorized to be appropriated to the De13 partment of the Treasury and the Department of Justice,

14 including the Community Relations Service, for fiscal

15 years 2000, 2001, and 2002 such sums as are necessary

16 to increase the number of personnel to prevent and re17 spond to alleged violations of section 245 of title 18,

18 United States Code (as amended by this Act).

19 SEC. 8. SEVERABILITY.

20 If any provision of this Act, an amendment made by

21 this Act, or the application of such provision or amend22 ment to any person or circumstance is held to be unconsti23 tutional, the remainder of this Act, the amendments made

24 by this Act, and the application of the provisions of such
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1 to any person or circumstance shall not be affected there2 by.

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