The US Senate has passed a bill to make lynching a federal crime, in a bipartisan gesture of tolerance and governmental virtue-signaling that ultimately has no real effect on existing federal hate-crime laws.
While Congress has made over 200 attempts to pass anti-lynching laws since 1882, when it was a serious risk to the lives of black Americans, this bill – which passed unanimously – represents the first time lynching has been legally classified as a federal crime.
The Justice for Victims of Lynching Act 2018 adds a “lynching” section to existing federal civil rights legislation, explicitly stating that murder by two or more people, motivated by race or religion, can result in a life sentence.
Given that such homicides can already be prosecuted as hate crimes, which can carry a life sentence as it stands, the bill serves little purpose except as a legislative photo-op, particularly considering that two of the senators who brought it to the floor –
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