Abstract
The very first hate crime statutes occurred during the reconstruction era as the congressional response to hate-motivated violence directed toward newly liberated slaves. However, beginning with the enactment of the Hate Crimes Statistics Act of 1990, contemporary hate crime statutes have been promulgated in 46 states and the federal government. These statutes generally take the form of penalty enhancement sanctions when hate has been established beyond a reasonable doubt as the motivation behind criminal conduct. States vary considerably in the evidentiary requirements to prove hate-motivated bias. Some states incorporate discriminatory selection criteria as evidence of bias; other states require proof of animus toward a predefined vulnerable group; several states require evidence that bias criminal conduct occurred “because of” or “by reason of” the status of a statutorily predefined vulnerable group.
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