Taking A Bite Out Of Hate Crime
7/22/2010 - Members of the LGBT community can feel safer in North Carolina because the FBI is actively stepping up its opposition to hate crimes. The FBI has dedicated an agent to oversee the investigation of hate crimes specifically against LGBT people in North Carolina.
Equality NC Executive Director Ian Palmquist met with the agent recently to discuss the effects of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act.
The act amends the 1969 United States federal hate crime law to include violent hate crimes committed because of real or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity. Under the 2009 act, the FBI has the authority to investigate these acts of violence, and it protects all people equally without considering immigration status. This is also the first federal law to include legal protections for transgender people.
The pre-amendment hate crimes act only covered violence because of actual or perceived race, color, religion, or national origin.
The new law gives federal authorities greater ability to engage in hate crimes investigations that local authorities choose not to pursue, and it requires the FBI to track statistics on hate crimes against transgender people. (Statistics for the other groups are already tracked.)
This new federal civil rights law criminalizes willfully causing bodily injury or attempting to do so (with fire, a firearm, or other dangerous weapon) when the crime was committed because of the actual or perceived religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability of any person.
If you hear about, or are the victim of, a hate crime in North Carolina, you now have a connection at the FBI. Reporting incidents to the FBI is a necessary step to ensure accurate statistical data, proper law enforcement, and ultimate justice for all victims of hate crimes. All NC counties are covered by the FBI Field Office at Charlotte (http://charlotte.fbi.gov/). You can contact them directly at (704) 377-9200 or Charlotte.public@ic.fbi.gov.
You can also contact Equality NC, and we'll link you directly with the special agent serving as our FBI liaison.
To support Equality NC's work towards fairness for all North Carolinians – including advocating for an update of NC's current hate crime statute to include age, gender, disability, sexual orientation, and gender identity – just click here.
