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"Preventing Hate and Keeping You Up to Date"
August 2023
The Hate Crimes Training and Technical Assistance Program Newsletter Preventing Hate and Keeping You Up to Date is a monthly summary of research, articles, site highlights, and more. This publication is provided for program awardees' and project partners' information and awareness. Please contact info@hatecrimestta.org to submit a success story or resource for consideration in the newsletter.
General News
New York Committing $51 Million to Protect Nonprofits From Hate Crimes, Governor Hochul Announces
New York legislators are putting tens of millions of dollars into fighting the growing surge of hate crimes. Governor Kathy Hochul signed a bill into law focused on combating hate crimes in two main ways: creating a historic $51 million in grants for organizations and nonprofits to help stem the tide of hate and bias crimes and implementing requirements for New York colleges and universities receiving state funds to have a plan to investigate hate crimes and to report those investigations to the state.
Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooter Who Killed 11 and Wounded 6 Others Sentenced to
Death
Robert Bowers, the gunman who killed 11 worshippers in the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 2018, was unanimously sentenced to death by a federal jury. It was the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in U.S. history. The jury rejected many of the key 115 mitigating factors presented by the defense, including that Bowers had been diagnosed with schizophrenia.
Attorney General Bonta Releases 2022 Hate Crime Report, Highlights Continued Efforts to Combat Hate
Hate crimes soared in California in 2022, with year-over-year rises recorded for virtually every demographic group, according to a report issued by the California Department of Justice—Hate Crime in California 2022. A total of 2,120 hate crimes were reported in 2022, a 20.2 percent jump from the prior year, and overall, the number of reported hate crimes increased 145.7 percent over the last ten years. Hate crimes targeting Asians dropped 43.3 percent in 2022, the first decrease since 2018.
Maryland Man Charged With Hate Crimes in Parking Dispute That Left 3 Latinos Dead
Maryland prosecutors have filed hate crime charges against a man accused of killing three people and wounding three more in a dispute over parking. The three people shot to death were Latino; the man accused of shooting them is white. Their families have lived on the same street for years and have had a history of disputes, including allegations of racial slurs against one of the victims.
Site Highlights
Maryland Attorney General’s Hate Crimes Task Force Gets Permanent Status
The Maryland Commission on Hate Crime Response and Prevention will become a permanent group in the state’s Office of the Attorney General. Maryland received funding from the U.S. Department of Justice to hire an assistant attorney general to manage the office and named members from state agencies, nonprofit organizations, and community leaders to “develop strategies to prevent and respond to hate crime activity and evaluate state laws and policies relating to hate crimes.”
New Jersey Attorney General Releases Report on “Impact of White Supremacy” in State
New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin and the Division on Civil Rights released “Exposing White Supremacy in New Jersey” examining bias-based behavior that can lead to violence and terrorism. The report was based on public virtual listening sessions among 200 community members and experts to better understand the impact of white supremacy in the state, including its impact on targeted communities, strategies used to normalize ideologies, and the infiltration of groups into government and law enforcement.
Fulton County District Attorney Swears in New Members of LGBTQ+ Advisory Panel
Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis and LGBTQ+ advocates hosted a vigil in northwest Atlanta to honor the lives lost and the survivors of crimes targeting the LGBTQ+ community. The gathering also served as a “changing of the guard” as Willis swore in new members of the LGBTQ+ Advisory Committee.
Westchester Gathers to Stamp Out Hate at Second Annual Event
Officials, clergy, and human rights activists advocated for greater communication and understanding in the community at Westchester County’s second annual Gather Against Hate commemoration in White Plains, New York.
Special Interest
ADL H.E.A.T. Map™
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) H.E.A.T. (Hate, Extremism, Antisemitism, Terrorism) Map is an interactive, customizable map detailing incidents of hate, extremism, anti-Semitism, and terrorism in the United States. The map can pinpoint and provide details on specific incidents to help users better understand tactics extremists use, and users can compare activities by type and/or state and download data.
Preventing Youth Hate Crimes and Bullying Webinar Series
This 13-webinar series, sponsored by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), provides juvenile justice professionals, law enforcement, and school communities an understanding of youth hate crimes and hate groups, along with strategies to prevent hate crimes and mitigate microaggressions and implicit bias. Visit the Preventing Youth Hate Crimes & Identity-Based Bullying Initiative Web page to register for upcoming webinars, view previously recorded webinars, and access additional resources.
Coming Soon!
Hate Crimes TTA
Program Grantee Dashboard
This project was supported by Grant No. 15PBJA-21-GK-02977-HATE awarded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance. The Bureau of Justice Assistance is a component of the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Justice Programs, which also includes the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the Office for Victims of Crime, and the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking (SMART).
Points of view or opinions in this document are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
