Publications and Media
Access a comprehensive collection of DOJ publications and other media related to hate crimes. Additional content filters are available below the side navigation menu.
The 2020 Community Policing Development Microgrants Program is a competitive grant program designed to advance the practice of community policing by providing funding to local, state, and tribal law enforcement agencies. Applicants are invited to propose demonstration or pilot projects to be implemented in their agency that offer creative ideas to advance crime fighting, community engagement, problem solving, or organizational changes to support community policing in one of the following ten areas:
- Hate Crimes
- Human Trafficking
- Meeting Rural Law Enforcement Challenges
- Officer Safety and Wellness
- Recruitment, Hiring, and Retention
- School Safety
- Staffing and Allocation Studies
- Victim-Centered Approaches
- Violent Crime
- Youth Engagement
Applications are due by March 11, 2020 at 7:59 PM EDT.
This study from the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime/Behavioral Assessment Unit reviewed 52 lone offender terrorist attacks within the United States between 1972 and 2015, including 12 attacks related to racially-motivated violent extremism. The study compared numerous offender motivational factors encompassing their backgrounds, family and social networks, behavioral characteristics, radicalization, attack planning, and bystander observations. Predicting lone offender terrorism incidents is difficult, but prior research and operational experience support the conclusion that acts of targeted violence, including lone offender terrorist attacks, may be preventable through early recognition and reporting of concerning behavior. The report aims to inform broader goals of enhancing bystander education and awareness, as well to aid the prevention efforts of law enforcement and multi-disciplinary threat assessment teams working to counter targeted violence threats every day. To work toward this objective, the authors examine relevant contextual factors and analyze the statements and behaviors offenders exhibited before carrying out their attacks.
Under the Safe Place Program, police departments recruit businesses and train their employees in how to provide a safe place for victims of hate crimes to receive support and help in contacting police. The business shows that it provides such services by displaying the Safe Place decal where it is visible to those who pass by or enter the business’ facilities. The San Jose Police anticipate that Safe Place will not only provide needed assistance to hate-crime victims, but also improve the community’s perception that San Jose is a community that cares about residents’ safety. San Jose’s Safe Place Program began in August 2018 with approximately 70 Starbucks and Wells Fargo locations as the original partners. These businesses were already participating in Seattle’s Safe Place as the original partners. Following the lead of these two businesses in San Jose, applications to the program began coming from credit union, schools, nail parlors, ice cream shops, and many other business types. Participants must sign an agreement that at least two employees are on duty during all business hours, and that one employee will contact 911 while the other employee remains with the victim. All employees must receive training in these procedures before the police department will accept the business as a Safe Place partner. Although it is too soon to measure the program’s results in San Jose, the police believe it is already improving community relations.
Noel March, the Chief of Police & Director of Public Safety & Security at the University of Southern Maine, joins The Beat to discuss hate crimes on college and university campuses, campus shootings, and the nobility of a profession in law enforcement. March has worked as the Sheriff of Cumberland County (ME), the Chief of Police at the University of Maine, the 39th U.S. Marshal for the District of Maine, and has instructed classes on a variety of legal topics.
This study utilized a community-based survey to provide information about the nature and pattern of bias motivated victimization among Latinos, with particular emphasis on understanding bias motivated crimes against immigrants. The researchers sought to answers five key questions: 1. What is the nature and pattern of bias motivated victimization among immigrant and non-immigrant populations residing in high Latino population communities? 2. How frequently and in what ways does bias motivated victimization occur with other forms of victimization in immigrant and non-immigrant populations residing in high Latino population communities? 3. How often and in what ways do those immigrant and non-immigrant victims who experience bias motivated victimization report their victimization and/or seek help through formal and informal mechanisms? 4. What are cultural factors that potentially contribute to bias victimization risk? And, 5. does bias victimization have a unique contribution to negative psychosocial outcomes associated with victimization generally? This study significantly advances the understanding of the nature and patterns of bias motivated crime victimization among immigrant and non-immigrant Latinos, a community of victims that have historically been difficult to reach through traditional victimization survey mechanisms. The researchers found that experiencing bias is widespread in the Latino community, with over half of the study population experiencing bias events and 28% experiencing hate crimes in their lifetime.
The 2019 Community Policing Development Program is a competitive grant program designed to advance the practice of community policing by providing guidance on promising practices through the development and testing of innovative strategies; building knowledge about effective practices and outcomes; and supporting new, creative approaches to preventing crime and promoting safe communities. The CPD solicitation is open to all public governmental agencies, for-profit and nonprofit organizations, institutions of higher education, community groups, and faith-based organizations.
Applications are due by May 28, 2019 at 7:59 PM EDT.
The study used an intensive, mixed-methods approach to develop a comprehensive youth bias crime violence exposure instrument, the Youth Bias Victimization Questionnaire (YBVQ). The YBVQ items and question structure were developed through a combination of youth focus groups, cognitive interviews, and expert review. Pilot data was collected on a sample of 854 youth ages 11-21 across three research sites. Subjects were recruited using an intercept strategy in order to obtain larger percentages of minority youth. Findings from the study indicate that bias victimization is a common form of victimization, particular for minority youth subgroups. Sixty-three percent of the total sample reported some kind of bias victimization experience in their lifetime, 42 percent reported bias victimization in the previous year, and 83 percent of the sample reported witnessing a bias victimization in the previous year. The YBVQ provides a new tool for researchers interested in collecting detailed information on experiences youth have with bias victimization, from bias-based bullying to more traditionally defined hate crimes. Law enforcement and other criminal justice professionals should be aware of the negative impact that bias victimization has on youth, even if the incident does not meet criteria for a hate crime. Because schools are primary contexts in which bias victimization occurs, school resource officers and other school staff should be aware that socially marginalized youth are at-risk for bias victimization, and in particular multiple forms of bias victimization.
An annual publication in which the FBI provides data on the number of incidents, offenses, victims, and offenders in reported crimes that were motivated in whole or in part by a bias against the victim’s perceived race, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity/national origin, or disability.
The Community Relations Service (CRS) held a webinar, open to the public, which gave participants an opportunity to learn about CRS programs communities can use to prevent and respond to hate crimes and community conflicts. The webinar gave an overview of the following CRS programs: Bias Incidents and Hate Crimes Forums, Protecting Places of Worship, City-Site Program Identification and Resolution of Issues Together, and School-Student ProblemIdentification and Resolution of Issues Together. This document accompanied the webinar.
The Collaborative Reform Initiative for Technical Assistance (CRI-TA) program provides critical and tailored technical assistance resources to state, local, territorial, and tribal law enforcement agencies on a wide variety of topics, including hate crimes. It features a "by the field, for the field" approach while delivering individualized technical assistance using leading experts.