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Federal Police Oversight: Criminal Civil
Rights Violations Under 18 U.S.C. § 242
June 15, 2020
The May 2020 death of George Floyd in police custody and subsequent nationwide protests against the
use of force by law enforcement have sparked heightened interest in Congress's ability to prevent and
remedy civil rights abuses by public safety officers. Among other existing legal remedies, a provision of
the federal criminal code, 18 U. S.C. § 242 (Section 242) makes it a crime for government officials,
including law enforcement officers, to subject any person to a deprivation of federally protected rights or
impose different punishments based on a person's race. This Sidebar provides an overview of Section 242
before discussing proposals to amend the law, as well as certain legal considerations related to those
proposals.
History and Text of Section 242
Section 242 originates from section 2 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866. Congress amended and broadened
the statute in 1874 pursuant to its constitutional authority to enforce the protections of the Fourteenth
,Amendment through appropriate legislation. Although Congress has amended the statute several times
since then and changed its location in the U.S. Code, the law's core prohibition has changed little since
the nineteenth century. As currently in force, Section 242 imposes criminal penalties on any person acting
under color of any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom who
willfully subjects any person.. . to [1] the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or imrmunities
secured or protectedbythe Constitution or laws oftheUnited States, orto [2] different punis hlrnts,
pains, orpenalties, on account ofsuchperson beingan alien, orby reason ofhis color, orrace, than
are prescribed forthe punishmentof citizens [.]
A simple violation of the statute is punishable by a fine and/or up to a year in prison. If bodily injury
results, the offender may be fined and/or imprisoned for up to ten years. If death results or other
aggravating factors are present, Section 242 provides for a fine and/or imprisonment for ten years to life
or a death sentence (though the Constitution forbids death sentences for non--hoinicide offenses).
A related provision of federal criminal law, 18 U. S.C. § 241 (Section 241), makes it a crime for two or
more persons [to] conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person ... in the free exercise or
enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or law s of the United States [. ]
Congressional Re search Service
https://crsreports.congress.gov
LSB10495
CRS Lega i&sebar
Prepared .- Memn bersand
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