New Report Addresses Hate Crime Laws

With a rise in hate crime violence across the country a new report from the Movement Advancement Project (MAP) & 16 leading civil rights organizations provides a groundbreaking analysis of state & federal hate crime laws. Ineke Mushovic, Executive Director of MAP stated, “At a time of rising hate violence, we need to re-examine & expand our responses. Hate crime laws serve a necessary purpose but they are inconsistent, sometimes flawed & can even harm the very communities they are meant to serve. We need to improve our hate crime laws & engage in broader solutions to reducing hate in our country. Like any law, hate crime laws alone won’t fix a problem as large as rising hate violence.” Imani Rupert-Gordon, NCLR Executive Director concluded, “Recently, we have unfortunately seen a dramatic increase in the number of violent hate crimes across the country targeting the LGBTQ community, women, people of Jewish faith, Asian people & people of color. This groundbreaking & important report will help us understand both the opportunities & limitations of hate crime laws in the United States, as well as how to improve these laws to make sure they address the root causes of hate violence while not harming the communities they are meant to make safer.” The orgs participating in the report are the Anti-Defamation League, Asian Americans Advancing Justice – AAJC (Advancing Justice – AAJC), Equality Federation Institute, James Byrd Jr. Center to Stop Hate at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Jews for Racial & Economic Justice, Lambda Legal, LatinoJustice PRLDEF, Matthew Shepard Foundation, National Black Justice Coalition, National Center for Lesbian Rights, National Center for Transgender Equality, National Council of Jewish Women, National Disability Rights Network, Sikh Coalition, Southern Poverty Law Center & the Union of Reform Judaism.

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