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are forced to move across State lines to escape
the incidence or risk of such violence.
(B) Members of targeted groups are pre-
vented from purchasing goods and services, ob-
taining or sustaining employment, or partici-
pating in other commercial activity.
(C) Perpetrators cross State lines to commit
such violence.
(D) Channels, facilities, and instrumental-
ities of interstate commerce are used to facilitate
the commission of such violence.
(E) Such violence is committed using arti-
cles that have traveled in interstate commerce.
(7) 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 widespread
public and private violence directed at persons be-
cause of their race, color, or ancestry, or perceived
race, color, or ancestry. Accordingly, eliminating ra-
cially motivated violence is an important means of
eliminating, to the extent possible, the badges, inci-
dents, and relics of slavery and involuntary servitude.
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(8) Both at the time when the 13th, 14th, and
15th amendments to the Constitution of the United
States were adopted, and continuing to date, members
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 necessary to pro-
hibit assaults on the basis of real or perceived reli-
gions or national origins, at least to the extent such
religions or national origins were regarded as races
at the time of the adoption of the 13th, 14th, and 15th
amendments to the Constitution of the United States.
(9) Federal jurisdiction over certain violent
crimes motivated by bias enables Federal, State, and
local authorities to work together as partners in the
investigation and prosecution of such crimes.
(10) The problem of crimes motivated by bias is
sufficiently serious, widespread, and interstate in na-
ture as to warrant Federal assistance to States, local
jurisdictions, and Indian tribes.
(c) DEFINITION OF HATE CRIME.—In this section—
(1) the term ‘‘crime of violence’’ has the meaning
given that term in section 16, title 18, United States
Code;
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(2) the term ‘‘hate crime’’ has the meaning given
such term in section 280003(a) of the Violent Crime
Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (28 U.S.C.
994 note); and
(3) the term ‘‘local’’ means a county, city, town,
township, parish, village, or other general purpose po-
litical subdivision of a State.
(d) SUPPORT
FOR CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS
AND
PROSECUTIONS BY STATE, LOCAL, AND TRIBAL LAW EN-
FORCEMENT OFFICIALS.—
(1) ASSISTANCE OTHER THAN FINANCIAL ASSIST-
ANCE.—
(A) IN GENERAL.—At the request of State,
local, or Tribal law enforcement agency, the At-
torney General may provide technical, forensic,
prosecutorial, or any other form of assistance in
the criminal investigation or prosecution of any
crime that—
(i) constitutes a crime of violence;
(ii) constitutes a felony under the
State, local, or Tribal laws; and
(iii) is motivated by prejudice based on
the actual or perceived race, color, religion,
national origin, gender, sexual orientation,
gender identity, or disability of the victim,
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or is a violation of the State, local, or Trib-
al hate crime laws.
(B) PRIORITY.—In providing assistance
under subparagraph (A), the Attorney General
shall give priority to crimes committed by of-
fenders who have committed crimes in more than
one State and to rural jurisdictions that have
difficulty covering the extraordinary expenses re-
lating to the investigation or prosecution of the
crime.
(2) GRANTS.—
(A) IN
GENERAL.—The Attorney General
may award grants to State, local, and Indian
law enforcement agencies for extraordinary ex-
penses associated with the investigation and
prosecution of hate crimes.
(B) OFFICE
OF
JUSTICE
PROGRAMS.—In
implementing the grant program under this
paragraph, the Office of Justice Programs shall
work closely with grantees to ensure that the con-
cerns and needs of all affected parties, including
community groups and schools, colleges, and uni-
versities, are addressed through the local infra-
structure developed under the grants.
(C) APPLICATION.—
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(i) IN
GENERAL.—Each State, local,
and Indian law enforcement agency that de-
sires a grant under this paragraph shall
submit an application to the Attorney Gen-
eral at such time, in such manner, and ac-
companied by or containing such informa-
tion as the Attorney General shall reason-
ably require.
(ii) DATE FOR SUBMISSION.—Applica-
tions submitted pursuant to clause (i) shall
be submitted during the 60-day period be-
ginning on a date that the Attorney General
shall prescribe.
(iii) REQUIREMENTS.—A State, local,
and Indian law enforcement agency apply-
ing for a grant under this paragraph
shall—
(I) describe the extraordinary
purposes for which the grant is needed;
(II) certify that the State, local
government, or Indian tribe lacks the
resources necessary to investigate or
prosecute the hate crime;
(III) demonstrate that, in devel-
oping a plan to implement the grant,
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the State, local, and Indian law en-
forcement agency has consulted and co-
ordinated with nonprofit, nongovern-
mental victim services programs that
have experience in providing services
to victims of hate crimes; and
(IV) certify that any Federal
funds received under this paragraph
will be used to supplement, not sup-
plant, non-Federal funds that would
otherwise be available for activities
funded under this paragraph.
(D) DEADLINE.—An application for a
grant under this paragraph shall be approved or
denied by the Attorney General not later than 30
business days after the date on which the Attor-
ney General receives the application.
(E) GRANT AMOUNT.—A grant under this
paragraph shall not exceed $100,000 for any sin-
gle jurisdiction in any 1-year period.
(F) REPORT.—Not later than December 31,
2008, the Attorney General shall submit to Con-
gress a report describing the applications sub-
mitted for grants under this paragraph, the
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award of such grants, and the purposes for which
the grant amounts were expended.
(G) 
AUTHORIZATION
OF
APPROPRIA-
TIONS.—There is authorized to be appropriated
to carry out this paragraph $5,000,000 for each
of fiscal years 2008 and 2009.
(e) GRANT PROGRAM.—
(1) AUTHORITY TO AWARD GRANTS.—The Office
of Justice Programs of the Department of Justice may
award grants, in accordance with such regulations as
the Attorney General may prescribe, to State, local, or
Tribal programs designed to combat hate crimes com-
mitted by juveniles, including programs to train local
law enforcement officers in identifying, investigating,
prosecuting, and preventing hate crimes.
(2) AUTHORIZATION
OF
APPROPRIATIONS.—
There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as
may be necessary to carry out this subsection.
(f) AUTHORIZATION FOR ADDITIONAL PERSONNEL TO
ASSIST STATE, LOCAL, AND TRIBAL LAW ENFORCEMENT.—
There are authorized to be appropriated to the Department
of the Treasury and the Department of Justice, including
the Community Relations Service, for fiscal years 2008,
2009, and 2010 such sums as are necessary to increase the
number of personnel to prevent and respond to alleged vio-
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lations of section 249 of title 18, United States Code, as
added by this section.
(g) PROHIBITION OF CERTAIN HATE CRIME ACTS.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 13 of title 18, United
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing:
‘‘§ 249. Hate crime acts
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—
‘‘(1) OFFENSES
INVOLVING
ACTUAL
OR
PER-
CEIVED RACE, COLOR, RELIGION, OR NATIONAL ORI-
GIN.—Whoever, whether or not acting under color of
law, willfully causes bodily injury to any person or,
through the use of fire, a firearm, or an explosive or
incendiary device, attempts to cause bodily injury to
any person, because of the actual or perceived race,
color, religion, or national origin of any person—
‘‘(A) shall be imprisoned not more than 10
years, fined in accordance with this title, or
both; and
‘‘(B) shall be imprisoned for any term of
years or for life, fined in accordance with this
title, or both, if—
‘‘(i) death results from the offense; or
‘‘(ii) the offense includes kidnaping or
an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual
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abuse or an attempt to commit aggravated
sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill.
‘‘(2) OFFENSES
INVOLVING
ACTUAL
OR
PER-
CEIVED RELIGION, NATIONAL ORIGIN, GENDER, SEX-
UAL
ORIENTATION, 
GENDER
IDENTITY, 
OR
DIS-
ABILITY.—
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—Whoever, whether or
not acting under color of law, in any cir-
cumstance described in subparagraph (B), will-
fully causes bodily injury to any person or,
through the use of fire, a firearm, or an explosive
or incendiary device, attempts to cause bodily
injury to any person, because of the actual or
perceived religion, national origin, gender, sex-
ual orientation, gender identity or disability of
any person—
‘‘(i) shall be imprisoned not more than
10 years, fined in accordance with this title,
or both; and
‘‘(ii) shall be imprisoned for any term
of years or for life, fined in accordance with
this title, or both, if—
‘‘(I) death results from the offense;
or
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‘‘(II) the offense includes kid-
naping or an attempt to kidnap, ag-
gravated sexual abuse or an attempt to
commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an
attempt to kill.
‘‘(B) 
CIRCUMSTANCES
DESCRIBED.—For
purposes of subparagraph (A), the circumstances
described in this subparagraph are that—
‘‘(i) the conduct described in subpara-
graph (A) occurs during the course of, or as
the result of, the travel of the defendant or
the victim—
‘‘(I) across a State line or na-
tional border; or
‘‘(II) using a channel, facility, or
instrumentality of interstate or foreign
commerce;
‘‘(ii) the defendant uses a channel, fa-
cility, or instrumentality of interstate or
foreign commerce in connection with the
conduct described in subparagraph (A);
‘‘(iii) in connection with the conduct
described in subparagraph (A), the defend-
ant employs a firearm, explosive or incen-
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diary device, or other weapon that has trav-
eled in interstate or foreign commerce; or
‘‘(iv) the conduct described in subpara-
graph (A)—
‘‘(I) interferes with commercial or
other economic activity in which the
victim is engaged at the time of the
conduct; or
‘‘(II) otherwise affects interstate
or foreign commerce.
‘‘(b) CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENT.—No prosecution
of any offense described in this subsection may be under-
taken by the United States, except under the certification
in writing of the Attorney General, the Deputy Attorney
General, the Associate Attorney General, or any Assistant
Attorney General specially designated by the Attorney Gen-
eral that—
‘‘(1) such certifying individual has reasonable
cause to believe that the actual or perceived race,
color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual ori-
entation, gender identity, or disability of any person
was a motivating factor underlying the alleged con-
duct of the defendant; and
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‘‘(2) such certifying individual has consulted
with State or local law enforcement officials regard-
ing the prosecution and determined that—
‘‘(A) the State does not have jurisdiction or
does not intend to exercise jurisdiction;
‘‘(B) the State has requested that the Fed-
eral Government assume jurisdiction;
‘‘(C) the State does not object to the Federal
Government assuming jurisdiction; or
‘‘(D) the verdict or sentence obtained pursu-
ant 
to 
State 
charges 
left 
demonstratively
unvindicated the Federal interest in eradicating
bias-motivated violence.
‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section—
‘‘(1) the term ‘explosive or incendiary device’ has
the meaning given such term in section 232 of this
title;
‘‘(2) the term ‘firearm’ has the meaning given
such term in section 921(a) of this title; and
‘‘(3) the term ‘gender identity’ for the purposes
of this chapter means actual or perceived gender-re-
lated characteristics.
‘‘(d) RULE OF EVIDENCE.—In a prosecution for an of-
fense under this section, evidence of expression or associa-
tions of the defendant may not be introduced as substantive
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evidence at trial, unless the evidence specifically relates to
that offense. However, nothing in this section affects the
rules of evidence governing impeachment of a witness.’’.
(2) 
TECHNICAL
AND
CONFORMING
AMEND-
MENT.—The analysis for chapter 13 of title 18,
United States Code, is amended by adding at the end
the following:
‘‘249. Hate crime acts.’’.
(h) STATISTICS.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (b)(1) of the first
section of the Hate Crime Statistics Act (28 U.S.C.
534 note) is amended by inserting ‘‘gender and gen-
der identity,’’ after ‘‘race,’’.
(2) DATA.—Subsection (b)(5) of the first section
of the Hate Crime Statistics Act (28 U.S.C. 534 note)
is amended by inserting ‘‘, including data about
crimes committed by, and crimes directed against, ju-
veniles’’ after ‘‘data acquired under this section’’.
(i) SEVERABILITY.—If any provision of this section,
an amendment made by this section, or the application of
such provision or amendment to any person or cir-
cumstance is held to be unconstitutional, the remainder of
this section, the amendments made by this section, and the
application of the provisions of such to any person or cir-
cumstance shall not be affected thereby.
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SEC. 1024. COMPREHENSIVE STUDY AND SUPPORT FOR
CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS AND PROSECU-
TIONS BY STATE AND LOCAL LAW ENFORCE-
MENT OFFICIALS.
(a) STUDIES.—
(1) COLLECTION OF DATA.—
(A) DEFINITION OF RELEVANT OFFENSE.—
In this paragraph, the term ‘‘relevant offense’’
means a crime described in subsection (b)(1) of
the first section of Public Law 101–275 (28
U.S.C. 534 note) and a crime that manifests evi-
dence of prejudice based on gender or age.
(B) COLLECTION FROM CROSS-SECTION OF
STATES.—Not later than 120 days after the date
of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General
of the United States, in consultation with the
National Governors’ Association, shall, if pos-
sible, select 10 jurisdictions with laws classifying
certain types of offenses as relevant offenses and
10 jurisdictions without such laws from which to
collect the data described in subparagraph (C)
over a 12-month period.
(C) DATA TO BE COLLECTED.—The data de-
scribed in this paragraph are—
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(i) the number of relevant offenses that
are reported and investigated in the juris-
diction;
(ii) the percentage of relevant offenses
that are prosecuted and the percentage that
result in conviction;
(iii) the duration of the sentences im-
posed for crimes classified as relevant of-
fenses in the jurisdiction, compared with the
length of sentences imposed for similar
crimes committed in jurisdictions with no
laws relating to relevant offenses; and
(iv) references to and descriptions of
the laws under which the offenders were
punished.
(D) 
COSTS.—Participating 
jurisdictions
shall be reimbursed for the reasonable and nec-
essary costs of compiling data collected under
this paragraph.
(2) STUDY OF RELEVANT OFFENSE ACTIVITY.—
(A) IN
GENERAL.—Not later than 18
months after the date of enactment of this Act,
the Comptroller General of the United States
shall complete a study and submit to Congress a
report that analyzes the data collected under