I

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 3825

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

reporting, and prevention of bias crimes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JULY 16, 1996

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) 5,932 hate crimes were reported to the Fed6 eral Bureau of Investigation in 1994;

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

8 kinds of attacks, with hospitalization of victims oc9 curring four times more often than for other as10 saults;
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1 (3) 1,843 anti-Semitic incidents were reported

2 to the Anti-Defamation League in 1995, including

3 118 incidents on college campuses;

4 (4) membership in Neo-Nazi groups has in5 creased from 1,500 in 12 States in 1988 to 3,500

6 in 40 States in 1994;

7 (5) only 7,356 of the more than 16,000 law en8 forcement agencies furnished hate crime data to the

9 Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1994; and

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

11 officials have indicated that training in the area of

12 bias crimes is inconsistent and officials repeatedly

13 cite the need for uniform training of officers in the

14 investigation and prevention of bias crime.

15 SEC. 2. APPOINTMENT OF DIRECTOR.

16 The Attorney General shall appoint in the Depart17 ment of Justice a National Director of Bias Crime (herein18 after referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Director’’).

19 SEC. 3. DUTIES OF DIRECTOR.

20 The Director shall, in cooperation with the appro21 priate Federal, State, and local agencies, including the De22 partment of the Treasury, the Federal Bureau of Inves23 tigation, and the Community Relations Service of the De24 partment of Justice—
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1 (1) examine the needs of Federal, State, and

2 local law enforcement agencies in training officers

3 for the investigation and reporting of bias crimes;

4 (2) recommend to the Attorney General policy

5 options for the enhancement of bias crime interdic6 tion and prevention;

7 (3) determine a national curriculum for a train8 the-trainer program to be administered by the Fed9 eral Law Enforcement Training Center;

10 (4) determine a national curriculum for officer

11 training in investigation and reporting of bias crimes

12 to be delivered through the Federal Law Enforce13 ment Training Center;

14 (5) coordinate the bias crime efforts of the De15 partment of the Treasury, Department of Edu16 cation, Department of Justice, Federal Law En17 forcement Training Center, the Federal Bureau of

18 Investigation, and the Community Relations Service

19 of the Department of Justice;

20 (6) develop a national curriculum to be taught

21 as a preventative measure at elementary and second22 ary schools throughout the country;

23 (7) make available to law enforcement agencies

24 materials, prepared by Federal, State, local, and vic-
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1 tims’ rights organizations, pertinent to bias crime

2 investigation and prevention;

3 (8) coordinate technical assistance provided to

4 State and local law enforcement agencies related to

5 the prevention, investigation and prosecution of bias

6 crime;

7 (9) coordinate assistance to victims of bias

8 crime; and

9 (10) award grants to States that have estab10 lished lead agencies to coordinate efforts to combat

11 bias crime and developed innovative programs con12 sistent with the purposes of this Act.

13 SEC. 4. TRAINING REQUIREMENTS.

14 The training programs established by the Director,

15 acting through the Federal Law Enforcement Training

16 Center and in cooperation with the Secretary of the Treas17 ury shall include, at a minimum, the following:

18 (1) Recognition of basic elements of bias crimes

19 and proper initial response procedures.

20 (2) Instruction on how to comply with all Fed21 eral reporting requirements under the National Hate

22 Crimes Statistics Act.

23 (3) Notification of law enforcement officials re24 garding the history and growth of organized bias

25 groups in the United States.
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1 (4) Methods to develop preventative education

2 curriculum for local schools and community youth

3 groups.

4 (5) Methods to cope with the trauma experi5 enced by victims of bias crime.

6 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

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

8 program’’ means a program that teaches selected members

9 of the law enforcement community how to train members

10 of a local law enforcement agency how to investigate and

11 report bias crimes.

12 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

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

14 for each of the fiscal years 1997 through 1999 to carry

15 out the projects under this Act.

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