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Researching Hate Crimes & Hate Crime Legislation: Emmett Till Antilynching Act

About the Emmett Till Antilynching Act

On March 29, 2022, President Biden ratified the Emmett Till Antilynching Act. The Emmett Till Antilynching Act is named after Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Black boy from Chicago, Illinois who was tortured and murdered while visiting family in Mississippi in 1955. 

  • The bill specifies that crimes will be prosecuted as a lynching when "death or serious bodily injury results from a conspiracy to commit a hate crime". 
  • Lynching carries up to a 30-year prison sentence

Read the text of the law and access legislative history documents for the Emmett Till Antilynching Act: https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/55

 

Books about Emmett Till

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