- A bipartisan group of 35 AGs, led by District of Columbia AG Karl Racine and Kansas AG Derek Schmidt, sent a letter to congressional leaders urging Congress to pass the bipartisan National Opposition to Hate, Assaults, and Threats to Equality “NO HATE” Act as a way to help states identify and prevent hate crimes.
- The letter notes that bias-motivated crimes are on the rise nationwide and that, according to the most recent annual report by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), 2019 was the deadliest year on record for hate crimes. The letter also points out that the submission of hate-crimes data to the FBI by local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies is voluntary, and that most agencies did not submit statistics or reported zero incidents in 2019. The letter argues that this lack of data creates critical gaps in law enforcement’s understanding of the pervasiveness of hate crimes.
- The letter urges the passage of the NO HATE Act because it will provide states and localities with the tools they need to fight hate crimes, including providing federal grants to train law enforcement on hate crimes and their reporting to the FBI, to create reporting hotlines, and to increase resources for community engagement, among other things. In addition, the bill also allows courts to require those who are found guilty of federal hate crimes to engage in service to the affected communities or to be educated about those communities as a condition of their supervised release.