II

105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1529

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

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

NOVEMBER 13, 1997

Mr. KENNEDY (for himself, Mr. SPECTER, Mr. WYDEN, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, and

Mr. TORRICELLI) 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 1998’’.

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, reli-
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1 gion, sexual orientation, gender, or disability of the

2 victim poses a serious national problem;

3 (2) such violence disrupts the tranquility and

4 safety of communities and is deeply divisive;

5 (3) existing Federal law is inadequate to ad6 dress this problem;

7 (4) such violence affects interstate commerce in

8 many ways, including—

9 (A) by impeding the movement of members

10 of targeted groups and forcing such members to

11 move across State lines to escape the incidence

12 or risk of such violence; and

13 (B) by preventing members of targeted

14 groups from purchasing goods and services, ob15 taining or sustaining employment or participat16 ing in other commercial activity;

17 (5) perpetrators cross State lines to commit

18 such violence;

19 (6) instrumentalities of interstate commerce are

20 used to facilitate the commission of such violence;

21 (7) such violence is committed using articles

22 that have traveled in interstate commerce;

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

24 slavery can constitute badges and incidents of slav25 ery;
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1 (9) although many local jurisdictions have at2 tempted to respond to the challenges posed by such

3 violence, the problem is sufficiently serious, wide4 spread, and interstate in scope to warrant Federal

5 intervention to assist such jurisdictions; and

6 (10) many States have no laws addressing vio7 lence based on the actual or perceived race, color,

8 national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender,

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

10 laws that provide only limited protection.

11 SEC. 3. DEFINITION OF HATE CRIME.

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

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

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

15 994 note).

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

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

18 amended—

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

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

21 (2) by inserting after subsection (b) the follow22 ing:

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

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

25 through the use of fire, a firearm, or an explosive device,
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1 attempts to cause bodily injury to any person, because of

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

3 origin of any person—

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

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

6 and

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

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

9 both if—

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

11 in violation of this paragraph; or

12 ‘‘(ii) the acts omitted in violation of this

13 paragraph include kidnapping or an attempt to

14 kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse or an attempt

15 to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an at16 tempt to kill.

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

18 of law, in any circumstance described in subparagraph

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

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

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

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

23 or disability of any person—
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1 ‘‘(i) shall be imprisoned not more than 10

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

3 and

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

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

6 both, if—

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

8 in violation of this paragraph; or

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

10 this paragraph include kidnapping or an at11 tempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse or an

12 attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or

13 an attempt to kill.

14 ‘‘(B) For purposes of subparagraph (A), the cir15 cumstances described in this subparagraph are that—

16 ‘‘(i) in connection with the offense, the defend17 ant or the victim travels in interstate or foreign

18 commerce, uses a facility or instrumentality of inter19 state or foreign commerce, or engages in any activity

20 affecting interstate or foreign commerce; or

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

22 foreign commerce.’’.

23 SEC. 5. DUTIES OF FEDERAL SENTENCING COMMISSION.

24 (a) AMENDMENT OF FEDERAL SENTENCING GUIDE25 LINES.—Pursuant to its authority under section 994 of
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1 title 28, United States Code, the United States Sentencing

2 Commission shall study the issue of adult recruitment of

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

4 amend the Federal sentencing guidelines to provide sen5 tencing enhancements (in addition to the sentencing en6 hancement provided for the use of a minor during the

7 commission of an offense) for adult defendants who recruit

8 juveniles to assist in the commission of hate crimes.

9 (b) CONSISTENCY WITH OTHER GUIDELINES.—In

10 carrying out this section, the United States Sentencing

11 Commission shall—

12 (1) ensure that there is reasonable consistency

13 with other Federal sentencing guidelines; and

14 (2) avoid duplicative punishments for substan15 tially the same offense.

16 SEC. 6. GRANT PROGRAM.

17 (a) AUTHORITY TO MAKE GRANTS.—The Adminis18 trator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency

19 Prevention of the Department of Justice shall make

20 grants, in accordance with such regulations as the Attor21 ney General may prescribe, to State and local programs

22 designed to combat hate crimes committed by juveniles.

23 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There

24 are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be

25 necessary to carry out this section.
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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 1998, 1999, and 2000 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, Unit10 ed States Code (as amended by this Act).

11 SEC. 8. SEVERABILITY.

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

13 this Act, or the application of such provision or amend14 ment to any person or circumstance is held to be unconsti15 tutional, the remainder of this Act, the amendments made

16 by this Act, and the application of the provisions of such

17 to any person or circumstance shall not be affected there18 by.

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