18 U.S.C. § 242 — Deprivation of rights under color of law

This section makes it a federal crime for someone using government-like power to violate a person's rights based on race, color, or alien status. Who it covers: anyone acting "under color of any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom" — meaning someone using real or claimed government authority. What is illegal: willfully taking away another person's rights, privileges, or immunities that the Constitution or federal laws protect, or subjecting them to harsher punishment than a citizen would get, because the victim is an alien or because of their color or race. This applies anywhere in a state, territory, commonwealth, possession, or the District of Columbia. Penalties depend on how serious the harm is: - The base penalty is a fine or up to one year in prison, or both. - If the acts caused bodily injury, or involved using, trying to use, or threatening to use a dangerous weapon, explosives, or fire, the penalty rises to a fine or up to ten years in prison, or both. - If the acts caused death, or involved kidnapping (or attempted kidnapping), aggravated sexual abuse (or an attempt), or an attempt to kill, the penalty becomes a fine, imprisonment for any number of years or for life, or both — and the person could even be sentenced to death.