NCJ Number
142391
Date Published
1993
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This report features a revised version of the Anti- Defamation League's (ADL) model hate crimes legislation and includes a section-by-section analysis of it.
Abstract
In 1981, ADL's Legal Affairs Department drafted a model hate crimes bill for introduction in State and local legislatures. It contained two component parts. The first, the Institutional Vandalism Statute, prohibited an individual from vandalizing, defacing, or damaging places of worship, cemeteries, schools, or community centers. The second section, the Intimidation Statute, provided for enhanced penalties for certain bias-motivated crimes. In the past decade, more than half of the States that enacted hate crimes laws have based their statutes on ADL's model. The revised model legislation includes sections for institutional vandalism, intimidation, civil action for institutional vandalism, intimidation, and bias crime reporting and training. The revised statute increases the criminal penalties for vandalism aimed at houses of worship, cemeteries, schools, and community centers and does not require proof of motive for the vandalism, thus making convictions easier to obtain. The intimidation section provides for increased criminal penalties for acts of intimidation, harassment, and vandalism in situations where persons or groups are victimized on account of their actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, or sexual orientation. One provision makes it explicit that victims of hate crimes have a civil action under a common law tort suit. It also provides for the recovery of punitive damages and attorney's fees and parental liability for minor children's actions.