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SUBCOMMITTEE NO. 3 OF THE

COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

EIGHTY-FIRST CONGRESS

FIRST AND SECOND SESSIONS

ON

H. R. 115, H. R. 155, H. R. 365, H. R. 385, H. R. 443,

H. R. 788, H. R. 795, H. R. 1351, and H. R. 4683

FOR THE BETTER ASSURANCE OF THE PROTECTION OF
CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES AND OTHER PERSONS
WITHIN THE SEVERAL STATES FROM MOB VIOLENCE AND
LYNCHING, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

H. R. 2182 and H. R. 3553

TO PERMIT THE PROSECUTION OF LYNCHING IN FEDERAL
COURTS WHEN THE GOVERNOR OR ATTORNEY GENERAL OF
THE STATE CONCERNED LACKS AUTHORITY TO DIRECT THE
PROSECUTION IN STATE COURTS, OR SUCH PROSECUTION IS
IMPAIRED BY HIS REFUSAL TO DO SO
H. R. 4682

TO PROVIDE MEANS OF FURTHER SECURING AND PROTECTING
THE CIVIL RIGHTS OF PERSONS WITHIN THE JURISDICTION
OF THE UNITED STATES

62936

JUNE 8, 15, 22, AND 29, 1949; JANUARY 17 AND 24, 1950

Serial No. 18

Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary

UNITED STATES

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

WASHINGTON: 1950

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CONTENTS

1-25

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264

Statement by the Attorney General concerning H. R. 4683 (supra)
Statement of the Japanese-American Citizens League Antidiscrimina-
tion Committee.

100

112

Statement of Herbert M. Levy, the American Civil Liberties Union
(supra)

132

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ANTILYNCHING AND PROTECTION OF CIVIL RIGHTS

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 1949

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
COMMITTEE OF THE JUDICIARY,
SUBCOMMITTEE No. 3,
Washington, D. C.

The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10 a. m. in room 346, Old House Office Building, Hon. William F. Byrne, chairman, presiding.

Mr. BYRNE. Gentlemen, we are met this morning to consider H. R. 4682 and various related bills pertaining to civil rights. (The bills referred to are as follows:)

[H. R. 115, 81st Cong., 1st sess.]

A BILL For the better assurance of the protection of citizens of the United States and other persons within the several States from mob violence and lynching, and for other purposes

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the provisions of this Act are enacted in exercise of the power of Congress to enforce, by appropriate législation, the provisions of the fourteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States and for the purpose of better assuring by the several States under said amendment equal protection and due process of law to all persons charged with or suspected or convicted of any offense within their jurisdiction.

DEFINITIONS

SEC. 2. Any assemblage of two or more persons which shall, without authority of law, (a) commit or attempt to commit violence upon the person of any citizen or citizens of the United States because of his or their race, creed, color, national origin, ancestry, language, or religion, or (b) exercise or attempt to exercise, by physical violence against the person, any power of correction of punishment over any citizen or citizens of the United States or other person or persons in the custody of any peace officer or suspected of, charged with, or convicted of the commission of any criminal offense, with the purpose or consequence of preventing the apprehension or trial or punishment by law of such citizen or citizens, person or persons, or of imposing a punishment not authorized by law, shall constitute a lynch mob within the meaning of this Act. Any such violence by a lynch mob shall constitute lynching within the meaning of this Act.

PUNISHING FOR LYNCHING

SEC. 3. Any person whether or not a member of a lynch mob who willfully instigates, incites, organizes, aids, abets, or commits a lynching by any means whatsoever, and any member of a lynch mob, shall be guilty of a felony and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine not exceeding $10,000 or by imprisonment not exceeding twenty years, or by both such fine and imprisonment.

PUNISHMENT FOR FAILURE TO PREVENT LYNCHING

SEC. 4. Whenever a lynching shall occur, any officer or employee of a State or any governmental subdivision thereof, who shall have been charged with the duty or shall have possessed the authority as such officer or employee to 1

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