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State University of Iowa Human Rights Committee first annual report and correspondence, 1963

An Analysis of the Kastenmeier Omnibus Civil Rights Bill Page 4

ment contracts and Federal personnel.
     The Commission, under the Kastenmeier bill, is delegated ample powers of enforcement. A three-stage process is envisioned: Commission investigation as to whether the alleged unfair practice has been committed; conciliation by the Commission to end the practice; a cease-and-desist order issued by the Commission if conciliation fails. Either party would then have recourse to the court of appeals: the Commission for judicial enforcement of its order, the aggrieved party for judicial review.

TITLE VIIII
   This title of the Kastenmeier bill acknowledges the duty and responsibility of each State and of the Federal government to protect all persons within their jurisdiction from mob violence and to prevent vigilante action by mobs. The administration bill does not cover this vital area of protection of person and property. 
     A lynch mob under the bill is formed when two or more persons acting in concert commit violence upon any person or his property because of his race, creed or national origin, or who exercise power of punishment over a person who is in custody or who is suspected or convicted of a criminal offense. Such unlawful acts of a lynch mob are defined as lynching.
     Officers or employees of a Federal, State or local government, as well as private persons, who are members of a lynch mob or who instigate or abet a lynching are punished under the bill. Where the lynching results in death, maiming or other serious physical or mental injury, the guilty person can be punished by imprisonment for up to twenty years and/or a $200,000 fine. 
     Governmental officers or employees who have the duty or authority to prevent a lynching and who deliberately fail to make all diligent efforts to do so are also guilty of a felony under this Title, as are officers who fail to make all diligent efforts to protect person in their custody or who deliberately neglect to apprehend and prosecute members of a lynch mob.
     Victims of a lynching or their next of kin are provided with a civil remedy for damages against the governmental subdivision possessing police power over the place where the lynching or abduction occurred. The governmental unit can defend only by proving that its officers charged with preserving the peace used all diligence to protect the person lynched. 
     The Lindbergh kidnapping law is expanded under this Title to include transporting across state lines a person unlawfully  abducted and held for purposes of punishment, coercion or intimidation This Title also extends the present law protecting members of the Coast Guard from injury and threats so that uniformed members or other brances of the Armed Services would also be covered. 
     Under another very important provision the Attorney General is authorized to institute proceedings to prevent discriminatory exclusion of persons from grand or petit jury service on state or Federal juries.
     Another provision of this Title is directed atainst official violence which is performed under color of law or custom and deprives another person of rights, privileges or immunities under the Constitution and laws of the United States. The acts which are made a criminal offense by this section include, among others, refusing to provide protection to any person from unlawful violence knowing that such violence was planned and subjecting any person to unnecessary force or humiliation upon arrest or while in custody. This section is designed to revitalize Section 242 of Title 18 of the United States Code, which punishes deprivation of rights by local authorities. The Supreme Court found it necessary to severly restrict this section in the Screws  case so that it would not be unconstitutionally vague. The proposed amendment, by specifically describing the various acts of police brutality which constitute offenses, gives the section a broad, effective and precise meaning. 
     The Kastenmeier bill also reaches the State or local government which employs officers who use coercive and brutal methods in their police work by making the government civilly liable to the victim, who otherwise probably would receive none because of the police officer's inability to pay, this provision has the further salutary effect of placing financial pressure upon the local government to take steps to prevent such practices among its employees. Technically, it amends 42 U.S.C. 1983 to broaden the Supreme Court decision in Monroe v. Pape  to make state governmental subdivisions liable for damages on civil rights suits.

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ment contracts and Federal personnel. The Commission, under the Kastenmeier bill, is delegated ample powers of enforcement. A three-stage process is envisioned: Commission investigation as to whether the alleged unfair practice has been committed; conciliation by the Commission to end the practice; a cease-and-desist order issued by the Commission if conciliation fails. Either party would then have recourse to the court of appeals: the Commission for judicial enforcement of its order, the aggrieved party for judicial review. TITLE VIIII This title of the Kastenmeier bill acknowledges the duty and responsibility of each State and of the Federal government to protect all persons within their jurisdiction from mob violence and to prevent vigilante action by mobs. The administration bill does not cover this vital area of protection of person and property. A lynch mob under the bill is formed when two or more persons acting in concert commit violence upon any person or his property because of his race, creed or national origin, or who exercise power of punishment over a person who is in custody or who is suspected or convicted of a criminal offense. Such unlawful acts of a lynch mob are defined as lynching. Officers or employees of a Federal, State or local government, as well as private persons, who are members of a lynch mob or who instigate or abet a lynching are punished under the bill. Where the lynching results in death, maiming or other serious physical or mental injury, the guilty person can be punished by imprisonment for up to twenty years and/or a $200,000 fine. Governmental officers or employees who have the duty or authority to prevent a lynching and who deliberately fail to make all diligent efforts to do so are also guilty of a felony under this Title, as are officers who fail to make all diligent efforts to protect person in their custody or who deliberately neglect to apprehend and prosecute members of a lynch mob. Victims of a lynching or their next of kin are provided with a civil remedy for damages against the governmental subdivision possessing police power over the place where the lynching or abduction occurred. The governmental unit can defend only by proving that its officers charged with preserving the peace used all diligence to protect the person lynched. The Lindbergh kidnapping law is expanded under this Title to include transporting across state lines a person unlawfully abducted and held for purposes of punishment, coercion or intimidation This Title also extends the present law protecting members of the Coast Guard from injury and threats so that uniformed members or other brances of the Armed Services would also be covered. Under another very important provision the Attorney General is authorized to institute proceedings to prevent discriminatory exclusion of persons from grand or petit jury service on state or Federal juries. Another provision of this Title is directed atainst official violence which is performed under color of law or custom and deprives another person of rights, privileges or immunities under the Constitution and laws of the United States. The acts which are made a criminal offense by this section include, among others, refusing to provide protection to any person from unlawful violence knowing that such violence was planned and subjecting any person to unnecessary force or humiliation upon arrest or while in custody. This section is designed to revitalize Section 242 of Title 18 of the United States Code, which punishes deprivation of rights by local authorities. The Supreme Court found it necessary to severly restrict this section in the Screws case so that it would not be unconstitutionally vague. The proposed amendment, by specifically describing the various acts of police brutality which constitute offenses, gives the section a broad, effective and precise meaning. The Kastenmeier bill also reaches the State or local government which employs officers who use coercive and brutal methods in their police work by making the government civilly liable to the victim, who otherwise probably would receive none because of the police officer's inability to pay, this provision has the further salutary effect of placing financial pressure upon the local government to take steps to prevent such practices among its employees. Technically, it amends 42 U.S.C. 1983 to broaden the Supreme Court decision in Monroe v. Pape to make state governmental subdivisions liable for damages on civil rights suits.