I
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1343
To provide Federal assistance to States and local jurisdictions to prosecute
hate crimes, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL 3, 2001
Mr. CONYERS (for himself, Mrs. MORELLA, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. FRANK, Mr.
GEPHARDT, Mr. SKELTON, Mr. KOLBE, Mr. FOLEY, Mr. SHAYS, Mrs.
KELLY, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. BOUCHER, Mr. NADLER, Ms. LOFGREN, Ms.
JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. MEEHAN, Mr. DELAHUNT, Mr. WEXLER,
Mr. WEINER, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Mr. ACKERMAN, Mr.
ALLEN, Mr. ANDREWS, Mr. BACA, Mr. BAIRD, Mr. BALDACCI, Mr. BAR-
RETT of Wisconsin, Mr. BECERRA, Mr. BENTSEN, Ms. BERKLEY, Mrs.
BIGGERT, Mr. BISHOP, Mr. BLAGOJEVICH, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr.
BOEHLERT, Mr. BONIOR, Mr. BORSKI, Mr. BOSWELL, Mr. BRADY of
Pennsylvania, Ms. BROWN of Florida, Mr. BROWN of Ohio, Mrs. CAPPS,
Mr. CAPUANO, Mr. CARDIN, Ms. CARSON of Indiana, Mrs. CHRISTENSEN,
Mr. CLAY, Mrs. CLAYTON, Mr. CLYBURN, Mr. COYNE, Mr. CROWLEY,
Mr. CUMMINGS, Mrs. DAVIS of California, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr.
DEFAZIO, Ms. DEGETTE, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. DEUTSCH, Mr. DICKS, Mr.
DINGELL, Mr. DOGGETT, Mr. DOOLEY of California, Mr. ENGEL, Ms.
ESHOO, Mr. EVANS, Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA, Mr. FARR of California, Mr.
FILNER, Mr. FORD, Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN, Mr. FROST, Mr. GILMAN, Mr.
GONZALEZ, Mr. GREENWOOD, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mr. HALL of Ohio, Ms.
HARMAN, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. HILLIARD, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr.
HINOJOSA, Mr. HOEFFEL, Mr. HOLT, Mr. HONDA, Ms. HOOLEY of Or-
egon, Mr. HORN, Mr. HOYER, Mr. INSLEE, Mr. ISRAEL, Mr. JACKSON
of Illinois, Mr. JEFFERSON, Mrs. JOHNSON of Connecticut, Ms. EDDIE
BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, Mrs. JONES of Ohio, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr.
KENNEDY of Rhode Island, Mr. KILDEE, Ms. KILPATRICK, Mr. KIND,
Mr. KIRK, Mr. KLECZKA, Mr. KUCINICH, Mr. LAMPSON, Mr. LANGEVIN,
Mr. LANTOS, Mr. LARSEN of Washington, Mr. LARSON of Connecticut,
Mr. LEACH, Ms. LEE, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mrs. LOWEY,
Mr. LUTHER, Mr. MALONEY of Connecticut, Mrs. MALONEY of New
York, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. MATSUI, Ms. MCCARTHY of Missouri, Mrs.
MCCARTHY of New York, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr.
MCGOVERN, Ms. MCKINNEY, Mr. MCNULTY, Mrs. MEEK of Florida, Mr.
MEEKS of New York, Mr. MENENDEZ, Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD, Mr.
GEORGE MILLER of California, Mrs. MINK of Hawaii, Mr. MOAKLEY, Mr.
MOORE, Mr. MORAN of Virginia, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. NEAL of Massa-
chusetts, Ms. NORTON, Mr. OBERSTAR, Mr. OLVER, Mr. OWENS, Mr.
PALLONE, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. PASTOR, Mr. PAYNE, Ms. PELOSI, Mr.
PRICE of North Carolina, Ms. PRYCE of Ohio, Mr. QUINN, Mr. RANGEL,
Mr. REYES, Ms. RIVERS, Mr. RODRIGUEZ, Mr. ROTHMAN, Ms. ROYBAL-
ALLARD, Mr. RUSH, Mr. SABO, Ms. SANCHEZ, Mr. SANDERS, Mr.
SANDLIN, Mr. SAWYER, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. SERRANO, Mr. SHER-
MAN, Mr. SIMMONS, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Mr.
SNYDER, Ms. SOLIS, Mr. STARK, Mr. STRICKLAND, Mrs. TAUSCHER, Mr.
THOMPSON of California, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Mrs. THURMAN,
Mr. TIERNEY, Mr. TOWNS, Mr. UDALL of Colorado, Mr. UDALL of New
Mexico, Mr. UNDERWOOD, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Mr. VISCLOSKY, Mr. WALSH,
Mr. WAXMAN, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. WU, and Mr. WYNN) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To provide Federal assistance to States and local jurisdic-
tions to prosecute hate crimes, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Local Law Enforce-
ment Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2001’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) The incidence of violence motivated by the
actual or perceived race, color, religion, national ori-
gin, gender, sexual orientation, or disability of the
victim poses a serious national problem.
(2) Such violence disrupts the tranquility and
safety of communities and is deeply divisive.
(3) State and local authorities are now and will
continue to be responsible for prosecuting the over-
whelming majority of violent crimes in the United
States, including violent crimes motivated by bias.
These authorities can carry out their responsibilities
more effectively with greater Federal assistance.
(4) Existing Federal law is inadequate to ad-
dress this problem.
(5) The prominent characteristic of a violent
crime motivated by bias is that it devastates not just
the actual victim and the family and friends of the
victim, but frequently savages the community shar-
ing the traits that caused the victim to be selected.
(6) Such violence substantially affects interstate
commerce in many ways, including—
(A) by impeding the movement of members
of targeted groups and forcing such members to
move across State lines to escape the incidence
or risk of such violence; and
(B) by preventing members of targeted
groups from purchasing goods and services, ob-
taining or sustaining employment, or partici-
pating in other commercial activity.
(7) Perpetrators cross State lines to commit
such violence.
(8) Channels, facilities, and instrumentalities of
interstate commerce are used to facilitate the com-
mission of such violence.
(9) Such violence is committed using articles
that have traveled in interstate commerce.
(10) For generations, the institutions of slavery
and involuntary servitude were defined by the race,
color, and ancestry of those held in bondage. Slavery
and involuntary servitude were enforced, both prior
to and after the adoption of the 13th amendment to
the Constitution of the United States, through wide-
spread public and private violence directed at per-
sons because of their race, color, or ancestry, or per-
ceived race, color, or ancestry. Accordingly, elimi-
nating racially motivated violence is an important
means of eliminating, to the extent possible, the
badges, incidents, and relics of slavery and involun-
tary servitude.
(11) Both at the time when the 13th, 14th, and
15th amendments to the Constitution of the United
States were adopted, and continuing to date, mem-
bers of certain religious and national origin groups
were and are perceived to be distinct ‘‘races’’. Thus,
in order to eliminate, to the extent possible, the
badges, incidents, and relics of slavery, it is nec-