Hate crime laws in the United States

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US state hate crime laws as they pertain to sexual orientation and gender identity prior to October 28th, 2009.      State hate crimes law uninclusive of sexual orientation or gender identity      Sexual orientation recognized for data collection about hate crimes      Sexual orientation recognized in state hate crimes law      Sexual orientation and gender identity recognized in state hate crimes law

Hate crime laws in the United States protect against hate crimes (also known as bias crimes) motivated by enmity or animus against a protected class. Although state laws vary, current statutes permit federal prosecution of hate crimes committed on the basis of a person's protected characteristics of race, religion, ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ)/FBI, as well as campus security authorities, are required to collect and publish hate crime statistics.

Contents

[edit] Federal prosecution of hate crimes

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[edit] 1969 Federal Civil Rights Law

The 1969 Federal Civil Rights Law, 18 U.S.C. § 245(b)(2), permits federal prosecution of anyone who "willingly injures, intimidates or interferes with another person, or attempts to do so, by force because of the other person's race, color, religion or national origin" [1] because of the victim's attempt to engage in one of six types of federally protected activities, such as attending school, patronizing a public place/facility, applying for employment, acting as a juror in a state court or voting.

Persons violating the 1969 Federal Hate Crimes Law face a fine or imprisonment of up to one year, or both. If bodily injury results or if such acts of intimidation involve the use of firearms, explosives or fire, individuals can receive prison terms of up to 10 years, while crimes involving kidnapping, sexual assault, or murder can be punishable by life in prison or the death penalty.[1] U.S. Courts provide for criminal sanctions, but only victims of gender-motivated hate crimes can "seek compensatory and punitive damages as well as injunctive and declaratory relief".[2]

[edit] Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act (1994)

Main article: Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act

The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, enacted in 28 U.S.C. § 994 note Sec. 280003, requires the United States Sentencing Commission to increase the penalties for hate crimes committed on the basis of the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, or gender of any person. In 1995, the Sentencing Commission implemented these guidelines, which only apply to federal crimes.[3]

[edit] Matthew Shepard Act

Main article: Matthew Shepard Act

On October 28, 2009 President Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act (attached to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010), which expanded existing United States federal hate crime law to include crimes motivated by a victim's actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability, and which dropped the prerequisite that the victim be engaging in a federally protected activity.

[edit] State laws

45 states and the District of Columbia have statutes criminalizing various types of bias-motivated violence or intimidation (the exceptions are AR, GA, IN, SC, and WY). Each of these statutes covers bias on the basis of race, religion, and ethnicity; 32 of them cover sexual orientation; 32 cover disability; 28 cover gender; 13 cover age; 11 cover transgender/gender-identity; 5 cover political affiliation.[4]

31 states and the District of Columbia have statutes creating a civil cause of action, in addition to the criminal penalty, for similar acts.[4]

27 states and the District of Columbia have statutes requiring the state to collect hate crime statistics; 16 of these cover sexual orientation.[4]

[edit] Data collection statutes

[edit] Hate Crime Statistics Act of 1990

The Hate Crime Statistics Act of 1990 28 U.S.C. § 534, [2] requires the Attorney General to collect data on crimes committed because of the victim's race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or ethnicity. The bill was signed into law in 1990 by George H. W. Bush, and was the first federal statute to "recognize and name gay, lesbian and bisexual people."[5] Since 1992, the Department of Justice and the FBI have jointly published an annual report on hate crime statistics.[6]

[edit] Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994

In 1994, the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act expanded the scope to include crimes based on disability, and the FBI began collecting data on disability bias crimes on January 1, 1997.[7] In 1996, Congress permanently reauthorized the Act.

[edit] Campus Hate Crimes Right to Know Act of 1997

The Campus Hate Crimes Right to Know Act of 1997 enacted 20 U.S.C. § 1092(f)(1)(F)(ii), which requires campus security authorities to collect and report data on hate crimes committed on the basis of race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity, or disability.

[edit] Prevalence of hate crimes

The DOJ and the FBI have gathered statistics on hate crimes reported to law enforcement since 1992 in accordance with the Hate Crime Statistics Act. The FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services Division has annually published these statistics as part of its Uniform Crime Reporting program. According to these reports, of the over 113,000 hate crimes since 1991, 55% were motivated by racial bias, 17% by religious bias, 14% sexual orientation bias, 14% ethnicity bias, and 1% disability bias.[8]

Victims per Year by Bias Motivation[6]
Department of Justice / FBI Hate Crimes Statistics
Bias Motive 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Race 6,438 6,994 6,084 5,514 5,485 5,397 5,545 4,580 4,754 5,119 4,895 5,020 4,956 4,934
Religion 1,617 1,535 1,586 1,720 1,686 1,699 2,118 1,659 1,489 1,586 1,405 1,750 1,628 1,732
Sexual Orientation 1,347 1,281 1,401 1,488 1,558 1,558 1,664 1,513 1,479 1,482 1,213 1,472 1,512 1,706
Ethnicity/National Origin 1,044 1,207 1,132 956 1,040 1,216 2,634 1,409 1,326 1,254 1,228 1,305 1,347 1,226
Disability unknown unknown 12 27 23 36 37 50 43 73 54 95 84 85
Single-Bias 10,446 11,017 9,851 9705 9,792 9,906 11,998 9,211 9,091 9,514 8,795 9,642 9,527 9,683
Multiple-Bias 23 22 40 17 10 18 22 11 9 14 9 10 8 8
Total 10,469 11,039 10,255 9,722 9,802 9,924 12,020 9,222 9,100 9,528 8,804 9,652 9,535 9,691

Notes: The term victim may refer to a person, business, institution, or society as a whole. Though the FBI has collected UCR data since 1992, reports from 1992-1994 are not available on the FBI website. Single-bias victim totals have been calculated for 1995-1998.

2008 Hate Crimes vs. 2008 Crimes per offense type[9][10]
Department of Justice / FBI crimes statistics
Offense type Hate Crimes All US Crimes
Murder and non-negligent manslaughter 7 16,272
Forcible rape 11 89,000
Robbery 145 441,855
Aggravated assault 1,025 834,885
Burglary 158 2,222,196
Larceny-theft 224 6,588,873
Motor vehicle theft 26 956,846

[edit] Deliberate attacks on the homeless as hate crimes

A 2007 study found that the number of violent crimes against the homeless is increasing.[11][12] The rate of such documented crimes in 2005 was 30% higher than of those in 1999.[13] 75% of all perpetrators are under the age of 25. Studies and surveys indicate that homeless people have a much higher criminal victimization rate than the non-homeless, but that most incidents never get reported to authorities.

In recent years, largely due to the efforts of the National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH) and academic researchers the problem of violence against the homeless has gained national attention. The NCH called deliberate attacks against the homeless hate crimes in their report Hate, Violence, and Death on Mainstreet USA (they retain the definition of the American Congress).

The Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino in conjunction with the NCH found that 155 homeless people were killed by non-homeless people in "hate killings", while 76 people were killed in all the other traditional hate crime homicide categories such as race and religion, combined.[12] The CSHE contends that negative and degrading portrayals of the homeless contribute to a climate where violence takes place.

[edit] Hate crime laws debate

Main article: Debate over hate crime laws

Penalty-enhancement hate crime laws are traditionally justified on the grounds that, in Chief Justice Rehnquist's words, "this conduct is thought to inflict greater individual and societal harm.... bias-motivated crimes are more likely to provoke retaliatory crimes, inflict distinct emotional harms on their victims, and incite community unrest."[14]

Some people object to penalty-enhancement and federal prosecution laws because they believe they offer preferred protection to certain individuals over others. There is less opposition to data collection statutes.[citation needed]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Civil Rights Statutes". http://www.fbi.gov/hq/cid/civilrights/statues.htm. [dead link]
  2. ^ Gia Lee. "Colorado law in perspective: Protections for victims of hate crimes". Coloradoans United Against Hatred. http://www.cuah.com/co199718.htm. Retrieved 10 December 2009. 
  3. ^ "Hate Crime Sentencing Act". Anti-Defamation League. http://www.adl.org/issue_government/hate_crime_sentencing_act.asp. Retrieved 10 December 2009. 
  4. ^ a b c State Hate Crime Laws, Anti-Defamation League, June 2006. Retrieved 2007-05-04.
  5. ^ Hate Crimes Protections Timeline, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. Retrieved on 05-04-2007.
  6. ^ a b "Uniform Crime Reports". CJIS. http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/ucr.htm. Retrieved 10 December 2009. 
  7. ^ "Hate crime statistics 1996" (PDF). CJIS. http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/hate96.pdf. Retrieved 10 December 2009. 
  8. ^ Abrams, J. House Passes Extended Hate Crimes Bill, Guardian Unlimited, 05-03-2007. Retrieved on 05-03-2007.
  9. ^ "Table 2 - Hate Crime Statistics 2008". CJIS. http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/hc2008/data/table_02.html. Retrieved 17 December 2009. 
  10. ^ "Table 1 - Crime in the United States 2008". CJIS. http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2008/data/table_01.html. Retrieved 17 December 2009. 
  11. ^ Lewan, Todd, "Unprovoked Beatings of Homeless Soaring", Associated Press, April 8, 2007.
  12. ^ a b National Coalition for the Homeless, Hate, "Violence, and Death on Main Street USA: A report on Hate Crimes and Violence Against People Experiencing Homelessness, 2006", February 2007.
  13. ^ National Coalition for the Homeless: A Dream Denied.
  14. ^ Wisconsin v. Mitchell, 508 U.S. 476 (1993).

[edit] External links

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