Hate Crimes

All Americans have a stake in effective responses to hate crimes. These crimes have a profound psychological impact on victims and victimized groups. Bias-motivated crimes can intimidate victims and members of the victims' communities and can then leave feeling isolated, vulnerable, and unprotected by the law. Prosecutors have tremendous potential to prevent hate crimes and restore justice to both victims and communities.

APRI's Office of Research and Evaluation has undertaken a project to enhance the ability of state and local prosecutors to provide leadership in addressing hate crime problems. In particular, APRI's research revealed a need for more detailed information, training, and technical assistance on managing hate crime cases on such issues as identifying hate crimes, proving that a crime was hate-motivated, making charging decisions, addressing victims' reluctance to testify, and coordinating community outreach. APRI's "Prosecutors Respond to Hate Crimes" project, funded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance, was designed to respond to these needs. The major goals of the project were to:

• Identify effective prosecutorial strategies to combat hate crime;
• Improve criminal justice system efficiency in response to hate crime incidents; and
• Advocate outreach activities in communities impacted by hate crime.

APRI worked with a national advisory group of local prosecutors, law enforcement representatives, civil rights organizations, victim assistance organizations, and the U.S. Department of Justice to develop a resource guide and training curriculum that will help prosecutors recognize hate crimes, understand the effect of such crimes on the community, and develop effective policies and procedures for addressing hate crimes.

In May 2000, APRI released the resource guide, entitled A Local Prosecutor's Guide for Responding to Hate Crimes. The resource guide is available at no-cost to prosecutors' offices from APRI. A national training for prosecutors, investigators, and victim/witness advocates on hate crimes was held in June 2000 at the National Advocacy Center in Columbia, South Carolina.