Abstract
The very first hate crime statutes occurred during the reconstruction era as the congressional response to hate-motivated violence directed toward newly liberated slaves. However, beginning with the enactment of the Hate Crimes Statistics Act of 1990, contemporary hate crime statutes have been promulgated in 46 states and the federal government. These statutes generally take the form of penalty enhancement sanctions when hate has been established beyond a reasonable doubt as the motivation behind criminal conduct. States vary considerably in the evidentiary requirements to prove hate-motivated bias. Some states incorporate discriminatory selection criteria as evidence of bias; other states require proof of animus toward a predefined vulnerable group; several states require evidence that bias criminal conduct occurred “because of” or “by reason of” the status of a statutorily predefined vulnerable group.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
These included the Emancipation Proclamation; the Civil Rights Acts of 1866 and 1871; the enactment of Fourteenth Amendment (1868); the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment (1870); the Enforcement Acts (1870) (1871) and finally the Civil Rights Act of 1875. These federal legislative initiatives liberated former slaves; provided penalties for interference with the rights of Blacks either in concert or with others or in their capacity as government employees; provided for equal protection; the right to vote; and full and equal enjoyment to all citizens of public accommodations, places of public amusement and conveyances regardless of race, color or previous condition of servitude respectively. (The Civil Rights Act of 1875 was repealed.) Most of these provisions are presently codified under 18 U.S. § 241, 18 U.S. § 242, 18 U.S. § 245; and 42 U.S. §1983.
- 2.
18 U.S. § 245, often considered the first federal hate crime statutes was enacted in 1968 to protect citizens against interference from exercising federally protected activities.
References
Adams, D. M. (2005). Punishing hate and achieving equality. Criminal Justice Ethics, 24(1), 19–30.
ADL. (2012). Hate crime laws.
Barclay v. Florida. (1983). U.S. Supreme Court, 463 U.S. 939.
Code of Virginia. (1997). 18.2–57.
Del. Code Ann. 1304.
Dixon, B., & Gadd, D. (2014). Look before you leap: Hate crime legislation reconsidered. South African Crime Quarterly, 40, 25–30.
Franklin, K. (2002). Good intentions: The enforcement of hate crime penalty-enhancement statutes. American Behavioral Scientist, 46, 154–172.
Gerstenfeld, P. B. (2013). Hate crimes: Causes, controls, and controversies. Sage.
Gillis, B. (2013). Understanding hate crime statutes and building towards a better system in Texas. American Journal of Criminal Law.
Grattet, R., & Jenness, V. (2001). Examining the boundaries of hate crime law: Disabilities and the dilemma of difference. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 91, 653.
King, R. D., Messner, S. F., & Baller, R. D. (2009). Contemporary hate crimes, law enforcement, and the legacy of racial violence. American Sociological Review, 74(2), 291–315.
La. Rev. Stat. Ann. 14: §107.2.
Lawrence, F. M. (2002). Racial violence on a ‘small island’: Bias crime in a multicultural society. The Hate Debate. Should Hate be Punished as a Crime.
Lawrence, F. M. (2009). Punishing hate: Bias crimes under American law. Harvard University Press.
N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 651:6 1F.
Ohio Rev. Stat. Ann. § 2927.12.
Pezzella, F. S., & Fetzer, M. D. (2015). The likelihood of injury among bias crimes: An analysis of general and specific bias types. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 0886260515586374.
Swinney, E. (1987). Suppressing the Ku Klux Klan: The enforcement of reconstruction amendments 1870–1877 Dissertation-G.
Title 18 U.S. § 247—The Church Arson Prevention Act of 1996.
Title 18 U.S. § 249 Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr., Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009.
Title 28 U.S. § 534—The Hate Crime Statistics Act of 1990.
Title 28 U.S. § 994—The Hate Crime Sentencing Enhancement Act of 1994.
Title 42 § 13701—The Violence Against Women Act of 1994.
Vt. Stat. Ann. Tit. 13 § 1455.
Wisconsin v. Mitchell. (1993). U.S. Supreme Court, 505 U.S. 476.
Woods, J. B. (2014). Hate crime in the United States. In N. Hall, A. Corp, P. Giannasi & J. Grieve (Eds.), International handbook on hate crime. UK: Routledge.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Pezzella, F.S. (2017). Legislative Responses to Hate Crimes. In: Hate Crime Statutes. SpringerBriefs in Criminology(). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40842-2_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40842-2_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-40840-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-40842-2
eBook Packages: Law and CriminologyLaw and Criminology (R0)