Forgive me for my ignorance, but what exactly was the purpose of the anti-lynching laws that kept being shot down? Aren't torture, murder, and aiding in the commission of a crime already against the law?

by omegasavant
Tuna-Fish2

Yes, but they would be crimes prosecuted by the local authorities, in a court with a local judge presiding over a local jury. All of which would be sympathetic to the lynchers and which would practically guarantee that they would get off scot-free.

The purpose of the many different kind of anti-lynching laws was to somehow either punish the local authorities for not prosecuting lynchers, or give the federal government some avenue of prosecuting the guilty without having to do so in a court with a southern jury.