34 U.S.C. § 30506 — Rule of construction

Page 580 TITLE 34—CRIME CONTROL AND LAW ENFORCEMENT § 30506 1 See References in Text note below. thew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Preven- tion Act. For complete classification of division E to the Code, see Short Title of 2009 Act note set out under section 10101 of this title and Tables. CODIFICATION Section was formerly classified as a note under sec- tion 249 of Title 18, Crimes and Criminal Procedure, prior to editorial reclassification and renumbering as this section. § 30506. Rule of construction For purposes of construing this division and the amendments made by this division the fol- lowing shall apply: (1) In general Nothing in this division shall be construed to allow a court, in any criminal trial for an offense described under this division or an amendment made by this division, in the ab- sence of a stipulation by the parties, to admit evidence of speech, beliefs, association, group membership, or expressive conduct unless that evidence is relevant and admissible under the Federal Rules of Evidence. Nothing in this di- vision is intended to affect the existing rules of evidence. (2) Violent acts This division applies to violent acts moti- vated by actual or perceived race, color, reli- gion, national origin, gender, sexual orienta- tion, gender identity, or disability of a victim. (3) Construction and application Nothing in this division, or an amendment made by this division, shall be construed or applied in a manner that infringes any rights under the first amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Nor shall anything in this division, or an amendment made by this division, be construed or applied in a manner that substantially burdens a person’s exercise of religion (regardless of whether compelled by, or central to, a system of religious belief), speech, expression, or association, unless the Government demonstrates that application of the burden to the person is in furtherance of a compelling governmental interest and is the least restrictive means of furthering that com- pelling governmental interest, if such exercise of religion, speech, expression, or association was not intended to— (A) plan or prepare for an act of physical violence; or (B) incite an imminent act of physical vio- lence against another. (4) Free expression Nothing in this division shall be construed to allow prosecution based solely upon an indi- vidual’s expression of racial, religious, polit- ical, or other beliefs or solely upon an individ- ual’s membership in a group advocating or es- pousing such beliefs. (5) First amendment Nothing in this division, or an amendment made by this division, shall be construed to di- minish any rights under the first amendment to the Constitution of the United States. (6) Constitutional protections Nothing in this division shall be construed to prohibit any constitutionally protected speech, expressive conduct or activities (re- gardless of whether compelled by, or central to, a system of religious belief), including the exercise of religion protected by the first amendment to the Constitution of the United States and peaceful picketing or demonstra- tion. The Constitution of the United States does not protect speech, conduct or activities consisting of planning for, conspiring to com- mit, or committing an act of violence. (Pub. L. 111–84, div. E, § 4710, Oct. 28, 2009, 123 Stat. 2841.) Editorial Notes REFERENCES IN TEXT This division, referred to in text, is division E of Pub. L. 111–84, Oct. 28, 2009, 123 Stat. 2835, known as the Mat- thew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Preven- tion Act. For complete classification of division E to the Code, see Short Title of 2009 Act note set out under section 10101 of this title and Tables. CODIFICATION Section was formerly classified as a note under sec- tion 249 of Title 18, Crimes and Criminal Procedure, prior to editorial reclassification and renumbering as this section. § 30507. Jabara-Heyer NO HATE Act (a) Short title This section may be cited as the ‘‘Khalid Jabara and Heather Heyer National Opposition to Hate, Assault, and Threats to Equality Act of 2021’’ or the ‘‘Jabara-Heyer NO HATE Act’’. (b) Findings Congress finds the following: (1) The incidence of violence known as hate crimes, or crimes motivated by bias, poses a serious national problem. (2) According to data obtained by the Fed- eral Bureau of Investigation, the incidence of such violence increased in 2019, the most re- cent year for which data is available. (3) In 1990, Congress enacted the Hate Crime Statistics Act (Public Law 101–275; 28 U.S.C. 534 note) 1 to provide the Federal Government, law enforcement agencies, and the public with data regarding the incidence of hate crime. The Hate Crime Statistics Act and the Mat- thew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act (division E of Public Law 111–84; 123 Stat. 2835) 1 have enabled Fed- eral authorities to understand and, where ap- propriate, investigate and prosecute hate crimes. (4) A more complete understanding of the national problem posed by hate crime is in the public interest and supports the Federal inter- est in eradicating bias-motivated violence ref- erenced in section 249(b)(1)(C) of title 18. (5) However, a complete understanding of the national problem posed by hate crimes is hindered by incomplete data from Federal, State, and local jurisdictions through the Uni- form Crime Reports program authorized under section 534 of title 28 and administered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.