Study of Literature and Legislation on Hate Crime in America

The study was conducted to identify significant current issues regarding hate crimes, evidence of effective practices and innovative responses, and gaps in the law and research on hate and bias crime. This systematic review of hundreds of documents and Web sites obtained information on Federal and State hate crime data-collection efforts; research produced by Federal and State agencies, advocacy groups, and other independent organizations and scholars; crime prevention and response efforts; law enforcement training in hate crimes; and descriptions and analyses of hate crime law. This report focuses its discussion on State and Federal statutes and major sources of data. Recommendations based on this review address research and evaluation issues such as data quality, gaps in the applied research literature, and an overview of issues in hate crime law relevant to research. The findings of this report are intended to aid the Justice Department's National Institute of Justice in developing a program of research and evaluation. The review and analysis are supplemented with overviews and references for source materials on several topics related to hate crime research and related criminal justice practices.