Hate Crime Statistics Act

The Hate Crime Statistics Act, 28 U.S.C. § 534 (HCSA), passed in 1990 and modified in 2009 by the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act,[1] 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 by George H. W. Bush, and was the first federal statute to "recognize and name gay, lesbian and bisexual people."[2] Since 1992, the Department of Justice through one of its agencies, the FBI, has jointly published an annual report on hate crime statistics.[3][4]

Hate Crime Statistics Act

Long title	An Act to provide for the acquisition and publication of data about crimes that manifest prejudice based on certain group characteristics.
Acronyms (colloquial)	HCSA
Nicknames	Hate Crime Statistics Act of 1990
Enacted by	the 101st United States Congress
Effective	April 23, 1990
Citations
Public law	101-275
Statutes at Large	104 Stat. 140
Codification
Titles amended	28 U.S.C.: Judiciary and Judicial Procedure
U.S.C. sections amended	28 U.S.C. § 534
Legislative history
Introduced in the House as H.R. 1048 by John Conyers (D–MI) on February 22, 1989 Committee consideration by House Judiciary, Senate Judiciary Passed the House on June 27, 1989 (368-47) Passed the Senate on February 8, 1990 (92-4 Roll call vote 13, via Senate.gov, in lieu of S. 419) with amendment House agreed to Senate amendment on April 4, 1990 (402-18 Roll call vote 066, via Clerk.House.gov) Signed into law by President George H.W. Bush on April 23, 1990

On November 16, 2020, the FBI released its 2019 Hate Crime Statistics Act (HCSA) report with the total number of reported hate crime incidents rising 2.7% to 7,317 (2019) from  7,120 (2018).[5] The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) called for improved hate crime reporting. ADL urges Congress to pass the Jabara-Heyer NO HATE Act for improved hate crime training, prevention and reporting, stating that an entire community hurts when one individual is targeted by a hate crime.

For 2019, the FBI reported that race-based hate crimes are the most common type of hate crime, making up over 50 percent of all hate crimes. There was a 14 percent rise in anti-Jewish hate crimes, from 835 (2018) to 953 (2019); 63 percent of total reported religion-based crimes were directed against Jews and Jewish institutions. Anti-Hispanic hate crimes rose nearly 9 percent, a trend related to the rise of xenophobic rhetoric and bigotry in the public discourse. Hate crimes targeting individuals based on gender identity rose 18 percent from 2018, after having increased by 41 percent in 2018.[6]