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add a sentencing enhancement of not less than three offense levels for violent crimes in
which hate is deemed a major factor.4 In certain egregious cases of bias, the federal
government and state and local authorities will collaborate in the investigations. A good
example of this kind of cooperation occurred in the response to the 1998 murder of James
Byrd, a black man, by three white men in Jasper County, Texas. Although the crime was
under the jurisdiction of local law enforcement officials, the forensic expertise and civil
rights experience of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Justice Department
were crucial in bringing the case to a swift conclusion.5
Another major federal hate-crime law, the Hate Crime Statistics Act of 1990, requires the
Justice Department to gather data on crimes that manifest bias based on race, ethnicity, or
sexual orientation, and to publish an annual statistical report using material from state and
local law enforcement agencies. A 1968 measure, adopted when resistance to
desegregation remained strong in parts of the South, prohibits the use of force or
intimidation against individuals or groups attempting to vote, enroll in a school, gain
employment, or use public transportation or public accommodations. In addition, the
Justice Department has the authority to intervene in criminal cases when there is evidence
that a victim’s civil rights have been violated. Under this power, the federal government
has brought a number of cases against local law enforcement officials who have been
accused of using abusive tactics against minority suspects or defendants.

The original impetus behind the special attention for hate crimes was the victimization of
blacks. However, hate-crime statistics today reflect the increasing diversity of American
society. While blacks rank as the largest group targeted, a substantial number of whites,
Hispanics, Asians, homosexuals, and Jews were also listed as hate-crime victims in
statistics published by the FBI for the year 2004. Blacks accounted for about one-third of
reported hate crimes, Jews for some 12 percent, and male homosexuals for about 10
percent. Interestingly, relatively few hate crimes were directed at Muslims; these reflected
about 2 percent of the total.6
An ongoing controversy involves racial profiling, or the use of race, especially by police, to
identify possible criminal suspects. It includes a wide range of practices, including stopping
and frisking African Americans at random or searching the cars of black or Hispanic
motorists for illegal narcotics or stolen goods. In either case, what distinguishes racial
profiling from normal police tactics is the use of race as the determining factor and the
absence of strong additional evidence of criminal behavior. Many civil libertarians have
accused local police departments of engaging in racial profiling, especially in drug cases. In
response to highly publicized incidents involving the police and members of minority
groups, a number of states have taken steps to curb the practice. And while the
controversy over profiling originally emerged in relation to police treatment of blacks, the
focus is now on the treatment of immigrants from the Middle East and South Asia.

Prosecuting Crimes of the Past

The federal government continues to pursue criminal cases involving murders and other
serious crimes against blacks that were committed during the era of civil rights protest.

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