1、CRS Legal Sidebar Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress Legal SidebarLegal Sidebari i 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 forc
2、e by law enforcement have sparked heightened interest in Congresss 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, includ
3、ing law enforcement officers, to subject any person to a deprivation of federally protected rights or impose different punishments based on a persons race. This Sidebar provides an overview of Section 242 before discussing proposals to amend the law, as well as certain legal considerations related t
4、o 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 legislatio
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