I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1983 

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

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 6, 2017 

Ms. JACKSON LEE introduced the following bill; which was 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 ‘‘David Ray Hate 

5 Crimes Prevention Act of 2017’’ or ‘‘David’s Law’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 

8 (1) the incidence of violence motivated by the 

9 actual or perceived race, color, national origin, reli10 gion, sexual orientation, gender, or disability of the 

11 victim poses a serious national problem; 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 1983 IH

1 (2) such violence disrupts the tranquility and 

2 safety of communities and is deeply divisive; 

3 (3) existing Federal law is inadequate to ad4 dress this problem; 

5 (4) such violence affects interstate commerce in 

6 many ways, including— 

7 (A) by impeding the movement of members 

8 of targeted groups and forcing such members to 

9 move across State lines to escape the incidence 

10 or risk of such violence; and 

11 (B) by preventing members of targeted 

12 groups from purchasing goods and services, ob13 taining or sustaining employment or partici14 pating in other commercial activity; 

15 (5) perpetrators cross State lines to commit 

16 such violence; 

17 (6) instrumentalities of interstate commerce are 

18 used to facilitate the commission of such violence; 

19 (7) such violence is committed using articles 

20 that have traveled in interstate commerce; 

21 (8) violence motivated by bias that is a relic of 

22 slavery can constitute badges and incidents of slav23 ery; 

24 (9) although many local jurisdictions have at25 tempted to respond to the challenges posed by such 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 1983 IH

1 violence, the problem is sufficiently serious, wide2 spread, and interstate in scope to warrant Federal 

3 intervention to assist such jurisdictions; and 

4 (10) many States have no laws addressing vio5 lence based on the actual or perceived race, color, 

6 national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender, 

7 or disability, of the victim, while other States have 

8 laws that provide only limited protection. 

9 SEC. 3. DEFINITION OF HATE CRIME. 

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

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

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

13 994 note). 

14 SEC. 4. PROHIBITION OF CERTAIN ACTS OF VIOLENCE. 

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

16 amended— 

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

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

19 (2) by inserting after subsection (b) the fol20 lowing: 

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

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

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

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


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 1983 IH

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

2 origin of any person— 

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

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

5 and 

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

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

8 both if— 

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

10 in violation of this paragraph; or 

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

12 paragraph include kidnapping or an attempt to 

13 kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse or an attempt 

14 to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an at15 tempt to kill. 

16 ‘‘(2)(A) Whoever, whether or not acting under color 

17 of law, in any circumstance described in subparagraph 

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

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

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

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

22 or disability of any person— 

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

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

25 and 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
5 

•HR 1983 IH

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

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

3 both, if— 

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

5 in violation of this paragraph; or 

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

7 this paragraph include kidnapping or an at8 tempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse or an 

9 attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or 

10 an attempt to kill. 

11 ‘‘(B) For purposes of subparagraph (A), the cir12 cumstances described in this subparagraph are that— 

13 ‘‘(i) in connection with the offense, the defend14 ant or the victim travels in interstate or foreign 

15 commerce, uses a facility or instrumentality of inter16 state or foreign commerce, or engages in any activity 

17 affecting interstate or foreign commerce; or 

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

19 foreign commerce.’’. 

20 SEC. 5. DUTIES OF FEDERAL SENTENCING COMMISSION. 

21 (a) AMENDMENT OF FEDERAL SENTENCING GUIDE22 LINES.—Pursuant to its authority under section 994 of 

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

24 Commission shall study the issue of adult recruitment of 

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


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
6 

•HR 1983 IH

1 amend the Federal sentencing guidelines to provide sen2 tencing enhancements (in addition to the sentencing en3 hancement provided for the use of a minor during the 

4 commission of an offense) for adult defendants who recruit 

5 juveniles to assist in the commission of hate crimes. 

6 (b) CONSISTENCY WITH OTHER GUIDELINES.—In 

7 carrying out this section, the United States Sentencing 

8 Commission shall— 

9 (1) ensure that there is reasonable consistency 

10 with other Federal sentencing guidelines; and 

11 (2) avoid duplicative punishments for substan12 tially the same offense. 

13 SEC. 6. GRANT PROGRAM. 

14 (a) AUTHORITY TO MAKE GRANTS.—The Adminis15 trator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency 

16 Prevention of the Department of Justice shall make 

17 grants, in accordance with such regulations as the Attor18 ney General may prescribe, to State and local programs 

19 designed to combat hate crimes committed by juveniles. 

20 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

21 are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be 

22 necessary to carry out this section. 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
7 

•HR 1983 IH

1 SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION FOR ADDITIONAL PERSONNEL TO 

2 ASSIST STATE AND LOCAL LAW ENFORCE3 MENT. 

4 There are authorized to be appropriated to the De5 partment of the Treasury and the Department of Justice, 

6 including the Community Relations Service, for fiscal 

7 years 2017, 2018, and 2019 such sums as are necessary 

8 to increase the number of personnel to prevent and re9 spond to alleged violations of section 245 of title 18, 

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

Æ 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS