A bill to exonerate and to provide for a general and unconditional amnesty for certain persons who have violated or alleged to have violated laws in the course of protest against the involvement of the United States in Indochina.
War Resisters Exoneration Act - States that notwithstanding any other provision of law, general amnesty is hereby granted to any person for violation of one or more of the laws enumerated in this Act or regulations and policies promulgated pursuant thereto, if such violation was committed between January 4, 1961, and November 22, 1974. Provides that such amnesty is automatic, and no application to the Amnesty Commission or any other agency is necessary to effectuate it.
Sets forth a list of laws to which this Act shall apply, including sections of the Military Selective Service Act and the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
States that the effect of the general amnesty granted by or under this Act, shall be to: (1) restore to the grantee all civil, political, citizenship, and property rights which have been or might be lost, suspended, or otherwise limited as a consequence of such violation; (2) immunize the grantee from criminal prosecution for such violation; (3) expunge all notation relating to such violation from the records of law enforcement agencies and cause an appropriate entry to be made in relevant public records; (4) require the granting of an honorable discharge to any person who received a discharge other than an honorable discharge from the Armed Forces if such violation was solely the cause, or a substantial cause, of the granting of such other than honorable discharge; (5) require that the honorable discharge from the Armed Forces granted by subsection (4) of this section contain no indication of any kind of the reason for the discharge; and (6) nullify all other legal consequences of such violation and entitle the grantee to indicate in any manner that such violation never occurred.
Establishes the Amnesty Commission to grant general amnesty to any individual who, during the period beginning January 1, 1961, and ending on November 22, 1974, violated any Federal law or State or local law if the Commission finds that: (1) such violation was in substantial part motivated by the individual's opposition to, or protest against, the involvement of the United States in Indochina; and (2) the individual was not personally responsible for any significant property damage or substantial personal injury to others in the course of his violation of any such law.
Provides that in any case in which the Commission finds that an individual was personally responsible for significant property damage or substantial personal injury to others in the course of his violation of any such law, the Commission shall grant amnesty if it finds that such conduct was justifiable on the basis of a moral or ethical belief deeply held by the individual.
States that, upon petition to any district court of the United States, by petitioner or a legal representative, the United States citizenship of any former citizen who states that he renounced such citizenship or became naturalized in a foreign country, solely or partly because of disapproval of involvement of the United States in Indochina shall be fully and unconditionally restored.
Authorizes appropriations of such sums as are necessary to carry out the purposes of this Act.
Referred to House Committee on the Judiciary.
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to House Committee on the Judiciary.
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