Hate crimes (also known as bias motivated crimes) occur when a perpetrator targets a victim because of his or her membership in a certain social group, usually defined by race, religion, sexua| orientation, disability, ethnicity, nationality, age, gender, gender identity, or political affiliation.

Although hate crimes are increasingly prominent in the political agendas of policymakers at all levels of government in recent years, the phenomenon is not new. Examples from the past include Roman persecution of Christians, the Ottoman genocide of Armenians, and the Nazi “final solution” for the Jews, and more recently, the “ethnic cleansing” in Bosnia and genocide in Rwanda. Hate crimes have shaped and sometimes defined world history. In the United States, racial and religious biases have inspired most hate crimes. As Europeans began to colonize the New World in the 16th and 17th centuries, Native Americans increasingly became the targets of bias-motivated intimidation and violence. During the past two centuries, some of the more typical examples of hate crimes in the US include lynchings of African Americans, cross burnings to drive black families from predominantly white neighborhoods, assaults on gay, lesbian and transgender people, and the painting of swastikas on Jewish synagogues.

The current statutes permit federal prosecution of hate crimes committed on the basis of a person's race, color, religion, or nation origin when engaging in a federally protected activities. Legislation is currently pending that would add gender, sexua| orientation, gender-identity, and disability to this list, as well as remove the prerequisite that the victim be engaging in a federally protected activity.

United States Hate Crime Law

18 U.S.C. § 245 (b)(2), enacted in 1969, permits federal prosecution of people who "by force or threat of force willfully injures, intimidates or interferes with... any person because of his race, color, religion or national origin and because he is or has been" attempting to engage in one of six types of federally protected activities, such as voting or going to school. Penalties for hate crimes involving firearms are prison terms of up to 10 years, while crimes involving kidnapping, sexua| assault, or murder can bring life terms or the death penalty.

Appellant courts have upheld the constitutionality of the law,and the Supreme Court has declined to review those decisions. Courts have also held that the law provides for criminal sanctions only, and does not create a cause of action for civil liability.

Hate Crime Sentencing Enhancement Act (1994)

The Hate Crime Sentencing Enhancement Act, enacted in 28 U.S.C. § 944 note Sec. 280003, requires the United States Sentencing Commission to increase the penalties for hate crimes committed on the basis of the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, gender, disability, or sexua| orientation of any person. In 1995, the Sentencing Commission implemented these guidelines, which only apply to federal crimes.^[5]

 Attempted expansion of 1969 law

On May 3, 2007, the House of Representatives passed the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007 (LLEHCPA), HR 1592, which would expand existing United States federal hate crime law to include crimes motivated by a victim's actual or perceived gender, sexua| orientation, gender identity, or disability, and which would drop the prerequisite that the victim be engaging in a federally-protected activity. Similar legislation is expected to pass in the Senate, but President Bush has indicated he may veto the legislation if it reaches his desk. This would be President Bush's fourth veto.

The LLEHCPA has been introduced in substantially similar form in each Congress since the 105th Congress in 1999, but has never made it into law. The 2007 bill expands on the earlier versions (originally called the Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act) by including transgender provisions and making it explicit that the law should not be interpreted to restrict people's freedom of speech or association.

State laws

45 states and the District of Columbia have statutes criminalizing various types of bias-motivated violence or intimidation (the exceptions are AR, GA, IN, SC, and WY). Each of these statutes covers bias on the basis of race, religion, and ethnicity; 32 of them cover sexua| orientation; 32 cover disability; 28 cover gender; 13 cover age; 11 cover transgender/gender-identity; 5 cover political affiliation. 31 states and the District of Columbia have statutes creating a civil cause of action, in addition to the criminal penalty, for similar acts. 27 states and the District of Columbia have statutes requiring the state to collect hate crime statistics; 16 of these cover sexua| orientation.

Your blog says hate crime is attacking  a gay person.  You say we shouldn't have gays because it cannot make babies.  It is an imbalance of hormones during one of the phases of pregnancy that causes it.  That is easy to see because many of them share the same characteristics, such as lisp and feminine traits.  There is only a very few that choose to be gay, if any.  But I agree that all crime is hate crime.  I guess the government wants stiffer penalties to discourage people because it can encite a riot easier than normal crimes.  I don't know, but that is what it sounds like.  Bureaucracy always makes things complicated.