Numerous sentences up to fifteen years have been handed down for a 2011 "beard cutting raid" between Amish communities and families in Ohio.
The 2009 Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act stipulates any crime prosecuted under the law must involve crossing state lines or using “an instrumentality of interstate or foreign commerce.”
The fact that the instrument used in the beard cutting was manufactured in New York and sold in Ohio has been abused by federal prosecutors to get involved and pursue life sentences for a local dispute involving a minority religious sect.