Leading Against White Supremacy Act of 2023

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 61 To prevent and prosecute white supremacy inspired hate crime and conspiracy to commit white supremacy inspired hate crime and to amend title 18, United States Code, to expand the scope of hate crimes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 9, 2023 Ms. JACKSON LEE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To prevent and prosecute white supremacy inspired hate crime and conspiracy to commit white supremacy in- spired hate crime and to amend title 18, United States Code, to expand the scope of hate crimes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Leading Against White 4 Supremacy Act of 2023’’. 5 SEC. 2. WHITE SUPREMACY INSPIRED HATE CRIME. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—A person engages in a white su- 7 premacy inspired hate crime when white supremacy ide- 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:01 Jan 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H61.IH H61 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 61 IH ology has motivated the planning, development, prepara- 1 tion, or perpetration of actions that constituted a crime 2 or were undertaken in furtherance of activity that, if effec- 3 tuated, would have constituted a crime. 4 (b) CONSPIRACY.—A conspiracy to engage in white 5 supremacy inspired hate crime shall be determined to 6 exist— 7 (1) between two or more persons engaged in the 8 planning, development, preparation, or perpetration 9 of a white supremacy inspired hate crime; or 10 (2) between two or more persons— 11 (A) at least one of whom engaged in the 12 planning, development, preparation, or per- 13 petration of a white supremacy inspired hate 14 crime; and 15 (B) at least one of whom published mate- 16 rial advancing white supremacy, white suprema- 17 cist ideology, antagonism based on ‘‘replace- 18 ment theory’’, or hate speech that vilifies or is 19 otherwise directed against any non-White per- 20 son or group, and such published material— 21 (i) was published on a social media 22 platform or by other means of publication 23 with the likelihood that it would be viewed 24 by persons who are predisposed to engag- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:01 Jan 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H61.IH H61 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 61 IH ing in any action in furtherance of a white 1 supremacy inspired hate crime, or who are 2 susceptible to being encouraged to engage 3 in actions in furtherance of a white su- 4 premacy inspired hate crime; 5 (ii) could, as determined by a reason- 6 able person, motivate actions by a person 7 predisposed to engaging in a white suprem- 8 acy inspired hate crime or by a person who 9 is susceptible to being encouraged to en- 10 gage in actions relating to a white suprem- 11 acy inspired hate crime; and 12 (iii) was read, heard, or viewed by a 13 person who engaged in the planning, devel- 14 opment, preparation, or perpetration of a 15 white supremacy inspired hate crime. 16 (c) DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE AUTHORITY, EN- 17 FORCEMENT, MONITORING, AND REPORTING.—The De- 18 partment shall have authority to conduct operations and 19 activities pursuant to this section, specifically— 20 (1) with regard to information or evidence ob- 21 tained by the Department of any action cited in this 22 section, the Department shall have the authority to 23 investigate, intercede, and undertake other actions 24 that it deems necessary and appropriate to interdict, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:01 Jan 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H61.IH H61 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 61 IH mitigate, or prevent such action from culminating in 1 violent activity; 2 (2) the Department shall have the authority to 3 prosecute persons who engaged in actions cited in 4 this section; and 5 (3) the Uniform Crime Reporting Program in 6 the Department of Justice shall maintain records of 7 white supremacy inspired hate crimes and related 8 actions cited in this section, and enforcement actions 9 in response thereto. 10 The Department shall provide annual reports to the ap- 11 propriate committees in Congress that shall include infor- 12 mation cited in this paragraph. 13 SEC. 3. CRIMINAL OFFENSE. 14 Section 249(a)(1) of title 18, United States Code, is 15 amended— 16 (1) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A) 17 by inserting after ‘‘race, color, religion, or national 18 origin of any person’’ the following: ‘‘, or because of 19 a white supremacy based motivation against any 20 person’’; and 21 (2) in subparagraph (B)— 22 (A) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘or’’ at the 23 end; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:01 Jan 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H61.IH H61 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 61 IH (B) in clause (ii), by striking the period 1 and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 2 (C) by adding at the end the following: 3 ‘‘(iii) the offense was in furtherance of 4 a white supremacy based motivation.’’. 5 SEC. 4. FINDINGS. 6 Section 4702 of the Matthew Shepard and James 7 Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act (18 U.S.C. 249 8 note) is amended by adding at the end the following: 9 ‘‘(11) Mass shootings and other hate crimes 10 motivated by white supremacy have been increasing 11 in frequency and intensity. These heinous and viru- 12 lent crimes are inspired by conspiracy theories, bla- 13 tant bigotry, and mythical falsehoods such as ‘‘re- 14 placement theory’’. All instances must be prevented 15 and severe criminal penalties must be applied to 16 their perpetrators.’’. 17 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:01 Jan 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H61.IH H61 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS