Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) called lynchings racially-motivated acts of violence and terror that represent a dark and despicable chapter of our nation’s history.
“They were acts against people who should have received justice but did not. With this bill, we can change that by explicitly criminalizing lynching under federal law,” noted Harris, who suspended her presidential campaign late last year.
On June 25, the New York Times published a deep dive into Biden’s views on justice reform and his involvement on the 1994 Clinton Crime Bill. Biden’s involvement was substantial, unlike former President Bill Clinton, Biden has never walked back his support for the largest crime legislation package in history.
The bill builds off of legislation introduced last Congress by Duckworth and U.S. Representatives Steve Cohen (D-TN) and Lacy Clay (D-MO). Assigning cases of police-involved deaths to external and independent prosecutors is a key recommendation of the Taskforce on 21st Century Policing, which President Barack Obama established after events in Ferguson, Missouri, and other communities revealed a severe breakdown in trust between police and the communities they serve.