Bend Toward Justice Act of 2020

Bill: 116-hr-7134
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Kennedy, Joseph P., III [D-MA-4]
Introduced: 2020-06-08
Policy area: Crime and Law Enforcement
Subjects: Criminal investigation, prosecution, interrogation

Evidence and witnesses

Law enforcement officers
Latest action: action_date: 2020-06-08
text: Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

Summaries:
action_date: 2020-06-08
action_desc: Introduced in House
text: <p><b>Bend Toward Justice Act of 2020</b></p> <p>This bill lowers the criminal intent standard&#8212;from willful to reckless&#8212;to convict a government official (including a law enforcement officer) for deprivation of rights while acting under color of law.</p>

tv_txt: I 116th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 7134 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES June 8, 2020 Mr. Kennedy (for himself, Mr. Jeffries , Ms. Norton , Ms. Lee of California , Mr. Sean Patrick Maloney of New York , Mrs. Watson Coleman , Mr. Blumenauer , Ms. Clark of Massachusetts , Mr. McGovern , Mr. Hastings , Ms. Blunt Rochester , Ms. Johnson of Texas , Ms. Velázquez , Mr. Meeks , Ms. Sewell of Alabama , Mr. Butterfield , Mr. Cohen , Mr. Engel , Mr. Brown of Maryland , Miss Rice of New York , Mr. Cooper , Ms. Meng , Mr. Welch , and Mrs. Trahan ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To amend title 18, United States Code, to lower the mens rea standard to reckless for the offense related to depriving persons of their rights under the color of law, and for other purposes.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Bend Toward Justice Act of 2020 . 2. Deprivation of rights under color of law mens rea standard Section 242 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by striking willfully and inserting recklessly .