U.S. Code » Title 18 » Part PART I— CRIMES › Chapter CHAPTER 13— CIVIL RIGHTS

18 U.S.C. § 249

Hate crime acts

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(a)In General.—(1)Offenses involving actual or perceived race, color, religion, or national origin.—Whoever, whether or not acting under color of law, willfully causes bodily injury to any person or, through the use of fire, a firearm, a dangerous weapon, 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 kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill.(2)Offenses involving actual or perceived religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.—(A)In general.—Whoever, whether or not acting under color of law, in any circumstance described in subparagraph (B) or paragraph (3), willfully causes bodily injury to any person or, through the use of fire, a firearm, a dangerous weapon, or an explosive or incendiary device, attempts to cause bodily injury to any person, because of the actual or perceived religion, national origin, gender, sexual 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(II) 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.(B)Circumstances described.—For purposes of subparagraph (A), the circumstances described in this subparagraph are that—(i) the conduct described in subparagraph (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 national border; or(II) using a channel, facility, or instrumentality of interstate or foreign commerce;(ii) the defendant uses a channel, facility, 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 defendant employs a firearm, dangerous weapon, explosive or incendiary device, or other weapon that has traveled in interstate or foreign commerce; or(iv) the conduct described in subparagraph (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.(3)Offenses occurring in the special maritime or territorial jurisdiction of the united states.—Whoever, within the special maritime or territorial jurisdiction of the United States, engages in conduct described in paragraph (1) or in paragraph (2)(A) (without regard to whether that conduct occurred in a circumstance described in paragraph (2)(B)) shall be subject to the same penalties as prescribed in those paragraphs.(4)Guidelines.—All prosecutions conducted by the United States under this section shall be undertaken pursuant to guidelines issued by the Attorney General, or the designee of the Attorney General, to be included in the United States Attorneys’ Manual that shall establish neutral and objective criteria for determining whether a crime was committed because of the actual or perceived status of any person.(5)Lynching.—Whoever conspires to commit any offense under paragraph (1), (2), or (3) shall, if death or serious bodily injury (as defined in section 2246 of this title) results from the offense, be imprisoned for not more than 30 years, fined in accordance with this title, or both.(6)Other conspiracies.—Whoever conspires to commit any offense under paragraph (1), (2), or (3) shall, if death or serious bodily injury (as defined in section 2246 of this title) results from the offense, or if 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, be imprisoned for not more than 30 years, fined in accordance with this title, or both.(b)Certification Requirement.—(1)In general.—No prosecution of any offense described in this subsection may be undertaken by the United States, except under the certification in writing of the Attorney General, or a designee, that—(A) the State does not have jurisdiction;(B) the State has requested that the Federal Government assume jurisdiction;(C) the verdict or sentence obtained pursuant to State charges left demonstratively unvindicated the Federal interest in eradicating bias-motivated violence; or(D) a prosecution by the United States is in the public interest and necessary to secure substantial justice.(2)Rule of construction.—Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to limit the authority of Federal officers, or a Federal grand jury, to investigate possible violations of this section.(c)Definitions.—In this section—(1) the term “bodily injury” has the meaning given such term in section 1365(h)(4) of this title, but does not include solely emotional or psychological harm to the victim;(2) the term “explosive or incendiary device” has the meaning given such term in section 232 of this title;(3) the term “firearm” has the meaning given such term in section 921(a) of this title;(4) the term “gender identity” means actual or perceived gender-related characteristics; and(5) the term “State” includes the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and any other territory or possession of the United States.(d)Statute of Limitations.—(1)Offenses not resulting in death.—Except as provided in paragraph (2), no person shall be prosecuted, tried, or punished for any offense under this section unless the indictment for such offense is found, or the information for such offense is instituted, not later than 7 years after the date on which the offense was committed.(2)Death resulting offenses.—An indictment or information alleging that an offense under this section resulted in death may be found or instituted at any time without limitation.(e)Supervised Release.—If a court includes, as a part of a sentence of imprisonment imposed for a violation of subsection (a), a requirement that the defendant be placed on a term of supervised release after imprisonment under section 3583, the court may order, as an explicit condition of supervised release, that the defendant undertake educational classes or community service directly related to the community harmed by the defendant’s offense.(Added and amended Pub. L. 111–84, div. E, §§ 4707(a), 4711, Oct. 28, 2009, 123 Stat. 2838, 2842; Pub. L. 117–13, § 5(h), May 20, 2021, 135 Stat. 272; Pub. L. 117–107, § 2, Mar. 29, 2022, 136 Stat. 1125.)Editorial NotesAmendments

2022—Subsec. (a)(5), (6). Pub. L. 117–107 added pars. (5) and (6).

2021—Subsec. (e). Pub. L. 117–13 added subsec. (e).

2009—Subsec. (a)(4). Pub. L. 111–84, § 4711, added par. (4).

Statutory Notes and Related SubsidiariesSeverability

Pub. L. 111–84, div. E, § 4709, Oct. 28, 2009, 123 Stat. 2841, which related to severability of provisions, was editorially reclassified as section 30505 of Title 34, Crime Control and Law Enforcement.

Rule of Construction

Pub. L. 111–84, div. E, § 4710, Oct. 28, 2009, 123 Stat. 2841, which related to construction, was editorially reclassified as section 30506 of Title 34, Crime Control and Law Enforcement.

Findings

Pub. L. 111–84, div. E, § 4702, Oct. 28, 2009, 123 Stat. 2835, which set out Congressional findings related to hate crimes, was editorially reclassified as section 30501 of Title 34, Crime Control and Law Enforcement.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 163 cases (99 in the last 5 years), 2009–2026 · leading case: United States v. Dylann Roof, 10 F.4th 314 (4th Cir. 2021).
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United States v. Dylann Roof, 10 F.4th 314 (4th Cir. 2021). · cites it 12× “Issue 17: Congress Did Not Exceed Its Thirteenth Amendment Authority in Enacting the Hate Crimes Prevention Act, 18 U.S.C. § 249 .........................”
Bostock v. Clayton Cnty., 140 S. Ct. 1731 (2020). · cites it 4× “, 18 U. S. C. §249 (a)(2)(A) (hate crimes) (enacted 2009); 34 U.”
United States v. Samuel Mullet, Sr., 767 F.3d 585 (6th Cir. 2014). · cites it 16× “18 U.S.C. § 249 (a)(2)(A). In instructing the jury on this point, the district court rejected the defendants’ proposed instruction (that the faith of the victims must be a “but for” cause of the assaults) and adopted the government’s proposed instruction (that the faith of the…”
United States v. James Hill, III, 927 F.3d 188 (4th Cir. 2019). · cites it 18× “2 WYNN, Circuit Judge: In this appeal, we confront the issue of whether the federal Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009 (“Hate Crimes Act”), 18 U.S.C. § 249 (a)(2), may be constitutionally applied to an unarmed assault of a victim engaged in commercial activity at his place of…”
Hively v. Ivy Tech Cmty. Coll. of Indiana, 853 F.3d 339 (7th Cir. 2017). · cites it 4× “” 18 U.S.C. § 249 (a)(2)(A) (emphases added).”
United States v. Charles Cannon, 750 F.3d 492 (5th Cir. 2014). · cites it 14× “Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009 (“Shepard-Byrd Act”), 18 U.S.C. § 249 (a)(1), for attacking Yondel Johnson.”
United States v. Diggins, 36 F.4th 302 (1st Cir. 2022). · cites it 12× “A jury convicted Maurice Diggins ("Diggins") of two counts of committing a hate crime and one count of conspiring to commit a hate crime under the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr.”
United States v. Hatch, 722 F.3d 1193 (10th Cir. 2013). · cites it 12× “2835 (2009), codified in relevant part at 18 U.S.C. § 249 . As relevant here, the Hate Crimes Act makes it a felony to physically attack a person because of that person’s race.”
Gary Glenn v. Eric Holder, Jr., 690 F.3d 417 (6th Cir. 2012). · cites it 8× “” 18 U.S.C. § 249 (a)(2)(A). The enacted statute also includes six uncodified “Rules of Construction.”
United States v. Roof, 225 F. Supp. 3d 438 (D.S.C. 2016). · cites it 10× “) A month later, a federal grand jury returned a 33-count indictment charging Defendant with multiple counts of five offenses: • Counts 1-9 allege racially motivated hate crimes resulting in death, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 249 (a)(1); • Counts 10-12 allege racially motivated…”
United States v. Ole Hougen, 76 F.4th 805 (9th Cir. 2023). · cites it 10× “HOUGEN SUMMARY ** Criminal Law The panel affirmed Ole Hougen’s conviction after a jury trial of attempting to commit racially motivated violence, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 249 (a)(1). The district court conducted the trial under General Orders, issued in response to the…”
United States v. James Hill, III, 700 F. App'x 235 (4th Cir. 2017). · cites it 11× “Consequently, the United States indicted Hill for violating 18 U.S.C. § 249 (a)(2). The district court dismissed the indictment, finding § 249(a)(2) unconstitutional as applied to Hill.”
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— 18 U.S.C. § 249(a)(1) — 1 case
United States v. Diggins, 36 F.4th 302 (1st Cir. 2022). “A jury convicted Maurice Diggins ("Diggins") of two counts of committing a hate crime and one count of conspiring to commit a hate crime under the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr.”
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