Bias Incidents and Hate Crimes Forum

The Bias Incidents and Hate Crimes Forum is a half-day session that provides community members and law enforcement with information related to the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, as well as state and local hate crimes laws. The program engages local and federal law enforcement, district attorneys, civil rights organizations, and community organizations in discussions and information sharing on methods to combat and respond to bias incidents and hate crimes.

Program Goals

• Identify best practices for how to prevent and respond to bias incidents and hate crimes
• Improve participants’ understanding of local, state, and federal hate crimes laws and ways to report alleged hate crimes
• Build a multi-party working group tasked with addressing hate crimes issues
• Identify federal, state, and local resources, programs, and tools to help prevent and respond to bias incidents and hate crimes

Forum Includes the Following Components

• Panel of law enforcement experts provides an overview of federal, state, and local hate crimes laws
• Panel of community leaders discusses the challenges facing diverse communities when responding to bias incidents and hate crimes
• Panel of federal, state, local law enforcement experts and community leaders discusses resources in the aftermath of bias incidents or hate crimes