• Hate crimes are defined as "a crime in which the defendant intentionally selects a victim, or in the case of a property crime, the property that is the object of the crime, because of the actual or perceived race, color, national origin, ethnicity, gender, disability, or sexual orientation of any person" by Section 280003(a) of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994.
  
• Hate crimes are punishable by law in 42 states.
  
• The FBI received reports of 8,049 hate crimes in 1997 from over 11,000 reporting agencies. 
  

Background: There is very little historical information on the prevalence of hate crimes because the U.S. government didn't begin collecting data on hate crimes until the early 1990s. 

Despite common assumptions, Dr. Edward Dunbar, a clinical psychologist at the University of California, most hate crimes are not committed by members of organized hate groups. On the contrary, according to the American Psychological Association (APA), "Most hate crimes are carried out by otherwise law-abiding young people who see little wrong with their actions." The APA also cites racial hatred and resentment of ethnic minorities as among the primary reasons people commit hate crimes. Certain crimes against women, crimes against gays and lesbians, crimes against religious minorities (with Jewish people comprising the highest number of victims) and against those with disabilities can also constitute hate crimes according to current legislation.

The Case For Hate Crimes Legislation: Those in favor of hate crimes legislation argue that hate crimes are worse than other crimes because of the violator's intent: to intimidate an entire group of people by their actions against one or a few. Proponents seek harsher penalties for those convicted of hate crimes, arguing that these harsher penalties will serve as a deterrent and will send a message that our society won't tolerate hatred.

HateCrime.org is an excellent resource for pro-hate crimes legislation news, resources and statistics.

The Case Against Hate Crimes Legislation: Those opposed to hate crimes legislation call hate crimes a form of 'thought policing' arguing that it's impossible to determine whether hatred or resentment of a certain group of people is a true motive for a crime. They say that increased legislation will not cure hatred and will not prevent bigots from preventing crimes. Opponents say that no matter what the motivation, crimes should be prosecuted according to existing laws. 

Legislation: Since 1990, there have been at least seven legislative moves addressing crimes against minorities:

• The Hate Crimes Statistics Act of 1990

• Violence Against Women Act of 1994

• Hate Crimes Sentencing Enhancement Act

• Church Arsons Prevention Act of 1996

• Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 1998

• The Violence Against Women Act of 1998

• Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 1999

Hate Crimes in the News: HateCrime.org maintains an updated listing of recent hate crimes in the news. The list includes such cases as the murder of Brandon Teena, whose story was chronicled in the movie "Boys Don't Cry." 

Two of the most notable hate crimes in recent history were the murders of James Byrd and Matthew Shepard. See the following links for additional resources on these two now-infamous crimes:

• Matthew Shepard Online Resources

• James Byrd, Jr. Foundation for Racial Healing

For further information on hate crimes, please visit the Hate Crimes section of the site for additional articles and resources.