S.909 - Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act Sponsor: Edward Kennedy / 111th Congress

Title
111th Congress - A bill to provide Federal assistance to States, local jurisdictions, and Indian tribes to prosecute hate crimes, and for other purposes. hidemore...
Summary
A bill to provide Federal assistance to States, local jurisdictions, and Indian tribes to prosecute hate crimes, and for other purposes. (by CRS)
Status
The bill has been introduced.

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S. 909 - Senate Hopes to Pass Hate Crime Companion Bill by Lauren Christensen, May 7, 2009 (8:11pm)

Senate Bill 909, known as the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act, is the companion bill to H.R. 1913, which passed in the House on April 28, 2009. The legislation is named Matthew Shepard whose unfortunate murder in 1998 brought national as well as international attention to the issue of hate crime legislation at the state and federal levels. It aims to reform existing hate crime law to allow state and local governments more control and accountability over cases. Some of the major provisions include chancing hate crime judicial language to include “both actual and perceived sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or disability”, a federal mandate that states report all hate crime cases, as well as funding for grants to help state and local governments combat violent crimes committed by juveniles, train law enforcement officers, and assist in investigations and prosecutions. The bill also gives the Justice Department the power to investigate what they call bias-motivated crimes “where the perpetrator has selected the victim because of the person’s actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability.” [HRC] The bill is supported by many police organizations, civil rights groups, bipartisan government organizations and officials, and LGBTQ organizations and opposed by Focus on the Family.

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