Preventing Antisemitic Hate Crimes Act
Bill: S.1939 | Sponsor: Sen. Cotton, Tom (R-AR)
Policy area: Crime and Law Enforcement

Summary:
Preventing Antisemitic Hate Crimes Act
This bill requires a designated officer or employee of the Department of Justice (DOJ) to facilitate the expedited review of anti-Semitic hate crimes and reports of anti-Semitic hate crimes.
Further, the bill requires DOJ to issue guidance for state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies on expanding public education campaigns to raise awareness of anti-Semitic hate crimes.
Finally, the bill increases the statutory maximum prison term for an individual who is convicted of a federal hate crime offense after a prior conviction for a hate crime offense under federal law or a hate crime felony under state law.

To facilitate the expedited review of antisemitic hate crimes, and for 
                            other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Preventing Antisemitic Hate Crimes 
Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Jews are the targets of the majority of hate crimes 
        committed in the United States against any religious group, 
        including attacks on houses of worship and Jewish community 
        centers.
            (2) Amid ongoing conflict in May 2021 between Israel, which 
        is one of the closest allies of the United States, and Hamas, 
        which is a terrorist organization and has been designated by 
        the United States as such since 1997, media reports indicate 
        that there has been a dramatic increase in hate crimes and 
        violence against Jews in the United States.
            (3) Media reports indicate that activists and mobs acting 
        in support of the terrorist group, Hamas, and its sympathizers 
        have incited and perpetrated hate crimes and violence against 
        Jews in the United States in 2021.
            (4) A recent survey conducted by the Anti-Defamation League 
        indicates that 63 percent of American Jews have directly 
        experienced or witnessed antisemitic hate incidents within the 
        past 5 years.
            (5) Antisemitism has long perpetrated myths about Jews, 
        including the Russian fabrication of the Protocols of the 
        Elders of Zion and the wide circulation of libelous falsehoods 
        about the Jewish murder of infants.
            (6) The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance 
        defines antisemitism as ``a certain perception of Jews, which 
        may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical 
        manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or 
        non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish 
        community institutions and religious facilities''.
            (7) In its most extreme form, antisemitism aims at the 
        physical destruction of the Jewish people, as seen in pogroms, 
        forced conversions, and Nazi Germany's murder of over 6,000,000 
        Jews.
            (8) Antisemitism has included attacks on the livelihood of 
        Jews, including prohibitions on land ownership, campaigns to 
        boycott, confiscate, or destroy Jewish businesses, and denial 
        of the ability of Jews to practice certain professions.
            (9) In the United States, Jews have suffered from 
        systematic discrimination in the form of exclusion from home 
        ownership in certain neighborhoods, prohibition from staying in 
        certain hotels, restrictions upon membership in private clubs 
        and other associations, limitations upon admission to certain 
        educational institutions, and other barriers to equal justice 
        under the law.
            (10) In the United States, Jews have faced, and continue to 
        face, false accusations of divided loyalty between the United 
        States and Israel, false claims that they purchase political 
        power with money, and false accusations about control of the 
        financial system, along with other negative stereotypes.
            (11) The people of the United States stand in solidarity 
        with those affected by hate incidents directed toward the 
        American Jewish community.

SEC. 3. REVIEW OF HATE CRIMES.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 7 days after the date of enactment 
of this Act, the Attorney General shall designate an officer or 
employee of the Department of Justice whose responsibility during the 
applicable period shall be to facilitate the expedited review of 
antisemitic hate crimes (as described in section 249 of title 18, 
United States Code) and reports of any such crime to Federal, State, 
local, or Tribal law enforcement agencies.
    (b) Applicable Period Defined.--In this section, the term 
``applicable period'' means the period beginning on the date on which 
the officer or employee is designated under subsection (a), and ending 
on the date that is 3 years after the date of enactment of this Act, 
except that the Attorney General may extend such period as appropriate.

SEC. 4. IMPROVING ANTISEMITIC HATE CRIME PREVENTION EFFORTS.

    (a) Guidance for Law Enforcement Agencies.--The Attorney General 
shall issue guidance for State, local, and Tribal law enforcement 
agencies, pursuant to this Act and other applicable law, on how to 
expand public education campaigns aimed at raising awareness of 
antisemitic hate crimes and reaching victims that are equally effective 
for people with disabilities as for people without disabilities.
    (b) Report to Congress.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 90 days after the date of 
        enactment of this Act, and every 90 days thereafter until 
        December 31, 2024, the Attorney General shall issue a report to 
        the appropriate congressional committees summarizing--
                    (A) the number of hate crimes and other incidents 
                reported to the Federal Bureau of Investigation during 
                the preceding 90 days for which the government has 
                reason to believe that the victim was targeted because 
                he or she is Jewish or was perceived to be Jewish;
                    (B) the number of active investigations into 
                antisemitic hate crimes, disaggregated by the division 
                of the Department of Justice responsible for the 
                investigation;
                    (C) the number of active prosecutions of 
                antisemitic hate crimes, disaggregated by district, 
                primary charge filed, and whether the prosecution is 
                primarily conducted by the relevant United States 
                Attorney, the Criminal Division, or the Civil Rights 
                Division; and
                    (D) other efforts undertaken by the Department of 
                Justice during the preceding 90 days to reduce the 
                number of antisemitic hate crimes in the United States.
            (2) Appropriate congressional committees defined.--As used 
        in this section, the term ``appropriate congressional 
        committees'' means--
                    (A) the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate;
                    (B) the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of 
                Representatives;
                    (C) the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate; 
                and
                    (D) the Committee on Appropriations of the House of 
                Representatives.
    (c) Enhanced Penalties for Repeat Violent Hate Crime Offenders.--
Section 249 of title 18, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)--
                    (A) in paragraph (1), by amending subparagraph (B) 
                to read as follows:
                    ``(B) shall be imprisoned for any term of years or 
                for life, fined in accordance with this title, or both, 
                if--
                            ``(i) the violation of this section occurs 
                        after a prior conviction under this section or 
                        a hate crime felony under State law has become 
                        final;
                            ``(ii) death results from the offense; or
                            ``(iii) the offense includes kidnapping or 
                        an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse 
                        or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual 
                        abuse, or an attempt to kill.''; and
                    (B) in paragraph (2)(A), in clause (ii) to read as 
                follows:
                            ``(ii) shall be imprisoned for any term of 
                        years or for life, fined in accordance with 
                        this title, or both, if--
                                    ``(I) the violation of this section 
                                occurs after a prior conviction under 
                                this section or a hate crime felony 
                                under State law has become final;
                                    ``(II) death results from the 
                                offense; or
                                    ``(III) the offense includes 
                                kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, 
                                aggravated sexual abuse or an attempt 
                                to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or 
                                an attempt to kill.''; and
            (2) in subsection (c)--
                    (A) by redesignating paragraph (5) as paragraph 
                (6);
                    (B) in paragraph (4), by striking ``and'' at the 
                end; and
                    (C) by inserting after paragraph (4) the following:
            ``(5) the term `hate crime felony under State law' means 
        any crime under State law that--
                    ``(A) is punishable by more than 1 year; and
                    ``(B) has as an element the use, attempted use, or 
                threatened use of physical force against the person or 
                property of another because of any actual or perceived 
                characteristic described in paragraph (1) or (2) of 
                subsection (a) of the person; and''.
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