Federal Bureau of Investigation - Investigative Programs

Hate Crime

The number one priority in the FBI's Civil Rights Program is the investigation of hate crimes. The FBI's jurisdiction pertaining to hate crimes is primarily predicated on four federal statutes:

1) Title 18, United States Code (U.S.C.), Section 241 (Conspiracy Against Rights);

2) Title 18, U.S.C., Section 245 (Interference with Federally Protected Activities);

3) Title 18, U.S.C., Section 247 (Damage to Religious Property; Obstruction in Free Exercise of Religious Beliefs); and

4) Title 42, U.S.C., Section 3631 (Criminal Interference with Right to Fair Housing).

Although the Hate Crimes Statistics Act of 1990 (amended in 1994 and 1996) defines a hate crime as a crime against a person or property motivated by bias toward race, religion, ethnicity/national origin, disability, or sexual orientation, the FBI does not have any federal jurisdiction to investigate hate crimes motivated by a sexual orientation bias. The FBI's authority to investigate hate crimes motivated by a disability bias is generally limited to incidents interfering with the victim's housing rights.

The FBI's role in civil rights investigations dates back to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This legislation was passed by Congress after President Lyndon Johnson addressed a joint session of Congress on November 23, 1963, and called for them "to write the next chapter of equal rights and to write it in the book of law." Prior to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the federal government, under the leadership of both Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy, took the position that protection of civil rights was a local function, not a federal one. However, the murder of civil rights workers Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and James Chaney, near Philadelphia, Mississippi, in June 1964, provided the impetus for a visible and sustained federal effort to protect and foster civil rights for blacks. MIBURN, as the case was called (it stood for Mississippi Burning), became the largest federal investigation ever conducted in Mississippi. On October 20, 1967, seven men were convicted of conspiring to violate the constitutional rights of the slain civil rights workers. All seven were sentenced to prison terms ranging from three to ten years.

The most recent available hate crimes statistics compiled by the FBI are for the year 1999. During 1999, 7,876 hate crime incidents were reported to the FBI by 12,122 law enforcement agencies in 48 states and the District of Columbia. The 1999 statistics reflected the following:

Number of incidents by Bias Motivation:

4,295 were motivated by racial bias
1,411 were motivated by religious bias
1,317 were motivated by sexual orientation bias
829 were motivated by ethnicity/national origin bias
19 were motivated by disability bias
5 were motivated by multiple biases

Frequently, hate crime investigations are conducted jointly by the FBI and state/local law enforcement authorities and, thereafter, prosecuted under state statutes such as murder, arson or more recent local ethnic intimidation statutes. Once the state prosecution begins, the FBI monitors the proceedings and reports the final results to DOJ for review. This process ensures that the law is applied equally among the 95 U.S. Judicial Districts.

Hate Crime Initiatives

Hate Crimes Working Groups

In 1998, the FBI co-chaired a sub-committee of the Attorney General's Hate Crimes Working Group that was responsible for developing a national model hate crimes curriculum for state and local law enforcement officers. The FBI has been active in teaching this curriculum to other law enforcement trainers throughout the United States. The majority of the FBI's field offices also participate in local Hate Crime Working Groups. These Working Groups combine community and law enforcement resources to develop strategies to address local hate crime problems.

National Church Arson Task Force

In June 1996, in response to the increase in the number of reported arsons at houses of worship, especially African-American houses of worship in the South, the President of the United States formed the National Church Arson Task Force (NCATF). The NCATF is CO-chaired by the Department of Justice's Acting Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights and the Treasury Department's Under-Secretary for Enforcement. This task force brought together the resources of the FBI; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; DOJ's Civil Rights Division; United States Attorneys' Offices; local prosecutors; the Community Relations Service; victim/witness coordinators; and other federal, state and local law enforcement officials in order to investigate fire, bombing and attempted bombing incidents that occur on, at, or near houses of worship property and that occurred since January 1, 1995. In June 1996, following the formation of the NCATF, the Attorney General directed all U.S. Attorneys to form local church arson task forces within their respective districts, each of which were to include representatives from the FBI.

As of July 6, 1999, 790 investigations have been initiated under the National Church Arson initiative. To date, 343 individuals have been arrested in connection with 259 church arsons. Of those 343, 68 were charged with federal violations and 275 were charged with state violations. Nationwide, 258 church arsons investigated by the NCATF occurred at African-American houses of worship. In the South, there have been 406 church arson incidents, 180 of which occurred at African-American houses of worship.