The bill making genocide a crime in the United States was adopted by a voice vote in the House Monday.
A Senate vote is not expected before next week on the bill, which implements the United Nations Convention Against Genocide which the Senate ratified in 1986.
While the Senate is expected to approve the legislation, supporters of the bill fear that an effort may still be made to include the death penalty as one of the punishments.
The House bill did not contain capital punishment, and an amendment for the death penalty died on a 6-to-6 tie vote when the Senate Judiciary Committee approved the implementation legislation April 14.
However, a death penalty amendment could still be offered on the Senate floor, according to Reva Price, of B’nai B’rith International.
The Washington Post, in an editorial this week, urged the Senate to adopt the legislation without the death penalty.
The editorial noted that supporters of the amendment may have been strengthened by the decision of a three-judge district court in Israel to impose the death penalty on John Demjanjuk, the former Treblinka death camp guard.
The legislation now would impose a fine of up to $1 million and/or 20 years in prison if an act of genocide committed in the United States or by a U.S. citizen abroad results in death. Anyone convicted of “incitement to genocide” would face a fine of up to $500,000 and/or five years in prison.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
