Monograph Monograph

H ATE C RIMES S ERIES

U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Justice Programs

Bureau of Justice Assistance

ADDRESSING HATE CRIMES

SIX INITIATIVES THAT ARE ENHANCING

THE EFFORTS OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE

PRACTITIONERS

ADDRESSING HATE CRIMES

SIX INITIATIVES THAT ARE ENHANCING

THE EFFORTS OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE

PRACTITIONERS
U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Justice Programs

810 Seventh Street NW.

Washington, DC 20531

Janet Reno

Attorney General

Daniel Marcus

Acting Associate Attorney General

Laurie Robinson

Assistant Attorney General

Noël Brennan

Deputy Assistant Attorney General

Nancy E. Gist

Director, Bureau of Justice Assistance

Office of Justice Programs

World Wide Web Home Page

www.ojp.usdoj.gov

Bureau of Justice Assistance

World Wide Web Home Page

www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA

For grant and funding information contact

U.S. Department of Justice Response Center

1–800–421–6770

This project was supported by Cooperative Agreement No. 95–DD–BX–K001, awarded by

the Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice to

Community Research Associates, Inc. This document was prepared by the Center for the

Study and Prevention of Hate Violence, University of Southern Maine, under contract with

Community Research Associates, Inc. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.

The Bureau of Justice Assistance is a component of the Office of Justice Programs, which also

includes the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, the Office of Juvenile Justice

and Delinquency Prevention, and the Office for Victims of Crime.
ADDRESSING HATE CRIMES

SIX INITIATIVES THAT ARE ENHANCING

THE EFFORTS OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE

PRACTITIONERS

February 2000

NCJ 179559

Prepared by Stephen Wessler

Center for the Study and Prevention of Hate Violence

University of Southern Maine
BUREAU OF JUSTICE ASSISTANCE

Acknowledgments

The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) wishes to thank the author of 

this monograph, Stephen Wessler, Director of the University of Southern 

Maine’s Center for the Study and Prevention of Hate Violence. Mr. Wessler 

has agreed to write another monograph in the BJA Hate Crime Series in 

early 2000. BJA extends heartfelt thanks to John Firman and Nancy 

Turner of the International Association of Chiefs of Police and Elaine 

Nugent of the American Prosecutors Research Institute; the time and 

energy they spent in reviewing the draft are much appreciated.

In addition, BJA would like to acknowledge the efforts of Community 

Research Associates and the assistance of BJA staff members Jennifer 

Knobe and Charlie Wendy, who shepherded this monograph from design 

to dissemination, and Patrick Coleman, who provided guidance in 

developing BJA’s Hate Crime Series.

iii
I. The Pivotal Role of Law Enforcement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

II. The International Association of Chiefs of Police Summit:

Hate Crime in America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

III. DOJ Law Enforcement Training: The Essential Building Block 

to an Effective Response to Hate Violence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

DOJ’s National Hate Crime Training Initiative. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Refresher Training. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

IV. The American Prosecutors Research Institute’s Resource 

Guide for Prosecutors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

V. The Maine Civil Rights Officers Project: A Coordinated System 

of Training, Reporting, Investigation, and Prosecution . . . . . . . . . . . 13

VI. Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

VII. For More Information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

BUREAU OF JUSTICE ASSISTANCE v

Contents
BUREAU OF JUSTICE ASSISTANCE 1

I. The Pivotal Role of 

Law Enforcement 

Over the past few years the

nation has experienced an alarming number of disturbing and

sometimes deadly hate crimes.

The dragging death of AfricanAmerican James Byrd, Jr., in

Jasper, Texas; the deadly attack on

Matthew Sheppard, a gay student

in Laramie, Wyoming; the shooting

rampage targeting minority citizens

in Chicago; and the shootings of

children at a Jewish community

center in Los Angeles, California,

followed by the murder of Joseph

Santos Ileto, a Filipino-American

mail carrier, have left a trail of

dead or wounded victims and traumatized, fearful communities.

During this time many other

Americans have been the victims

of far less publicized hate crimes

motivated by their perpetrators’

bias toward their perceived racial

or ethnic identity, religion, nationality, sexual orientation, gender, or

disability. These less well known

hate crimes resulted in similar levels of injury and trauma to both the

victims and the communities.

The nation has reacted to these

hate crimes with energy and ingenuity. Responses include clear and

strong condemnation from religious, civic, and governmental

leaders; efforts to strengthen state

and federal hate crime laws; innovative preventive programs in

schools; and additional resources

for training police officers and

prosecutors. 

Police officers generally are the

first professionals responding to

the scene of a hate crime. Their

actions significantly affect the outcome of the criminal investigation as

well as the community’s response

to the incident. Therefore, law

enforcement agencies have a pivotal role in responding to, investigating, prosecuting, and preventing

hate crimes. To successfully carry

out their roles, police officers and

prosecutors must receive training

on recognizing and investigating

potential hate crimes, have clear

protocols on how to respond to

hate violence, and develop innovative programs for preventing and

responding to hate crimes.

The Bureau of Justice Assistance

(BJA) of the U.S. Department of

Justice (DOJ) has made it a priority to support police and prosecutorial agencies in responding to hate

crimes. Examples of BJA-funded

projects in this area include:

• The International Association of

Chiefs of Police (IACP) Summit:

Hate Crime in America.

Convened in collaboration with

the Office of Justice Programs

(OJP) and the Office of
Community Oriented Policing

Services, a 2-day summit at

which law enforcement, civil

rights, and other leaders developed a broad range of recommendations for addressing hate

crimes in communities across

the country.

• DOJ’s National Hate Crime

Training Initiative. The development of multilevel hate crime

training curricula and the creation of a nationwide training

program for local law enforcement agencies to implement the

curricula.

• BJA’s Roll Call Video:

Responding to Hate Crimes.

The production of a 20-minute

video covering the initial

response to and investigation

of possible hate crimes.

• The International Association

of Chiefs of Police’s Responding to Hate Crimes: A Police

Officer’s Guide to Investigation

and Prevention. The publication

of a compact guide designed as

a quick reference to address

hate incidents, hate crimes, and

how best to assist victims.

• The American Prosecutors

Research Institute’s (APRI’s)

Resource Guide, Prosecutors

Respond to Hate Crimes Project.

The publication of a resource

guide on hate crimes for local

prosecutors.

• The Maine Department of the

Attorney General’s Designated

Civil Rights Officers Project.

The development of a coordinated statewide system for 

hate crime investigation and

prosecution.

These six efforts to address 

hate crimes are highlighted in 

this monograph. Individually, each

project constitutes an innovative

effort by police and prosecutors 

to improve systems for responding

to hate crimes. Collectively, however, the six projects demonstrate

the creativity and the deep commitment of local, state, and federal

law enforcement agencies in leading the nation’s effort to combat

bias-motivated crime.

2

ADDRESSING HATE CRIMES
BUREAU OF JUSTICE ASSISTANCE 3

II. The International Association

of Chiefs of Police Summit:

Hate Crime in America

In June 1998, the International

Association of Chiefs of Police, in

partnership with OJP, convened a

2-day national summit in Alexandria,

Virginia, titled Hate Crime in America. Police, civil rights leaders, and

prosecutors were invited to explore

the problem of hate crimes and

identify the most promising ways

to address it. 

Past IACP summits on various

forms of violent crime brought

together police leaders and other

experts to discuss pressing national law enforcement issues. The

1998 summit convened 110 participants representing police departments, federal law enforcement

agencies (namely, the Bureau of

Justice Assistance, the Office of

Juvenile Justice and Delinquency

Prevention, the Office for Victims of

Crime (OVC), the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services,

DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, the

Community Relations Service, and

the Federal Bureau of Investigation

(FBI)), state and county prosecutors, educators, victim assistance

professionals, physicians, civil

rights advocates, and scholars.

The summit was structured to

include both plenary sessions, in

which national experts discussed

critical issues involving hate

crimes, and breakout sessions, in

which participants engaged in

facilitated discussions. Professors

Jack Levin and Jack McDevitt,

both of Northeastern University,

presented the keynote address on

their groundbreaking research on

the typology of hate crime perpetrators. Topics for the eight breakout sessions included communities,

schools, colleges and universities,

first responders, courts, law

enforcement leadership, victim

response, and organized hate

groups. In the breakout sessions,

each group developed recommendations to improve the understanding of, response to, and prevention

of hate crimes given its topic.

In January 1999 the IACP published Hate Crime in America:

Summit Recommendations. The

publication provides comprehensive and insightful analysis of hate

crimes and a detailed compendium

of specific recommendations for

action that were developed at the

summit. This publication can be

obtained from the IACP Web site

at www.the iacp.org/pubinfo/

Research/hateamer.htm.

Collectively, three of the summit’s key recommendations serve
as a blueprint for preventing and

responding to future hate crimes: 

• Provide broad-based training for

police officers at three levels:

first responders, investigators,

and managers. This recommendation has been implemented

through DOJ’s National Hate

Crime Training Initiative.

• Introduce training for prosecutors. APRI has developed a

resource guide to meet this

recommendation.

• Assign responsibility for

responding to hate crimes to

one officer or one unit in the

law enforcement agency. This

recommendation has been

implemented in Maine and is 

in the process of being implemented in New Hampshire.

The recommendations established at the IACP 1998 summit

will continue to serve as guideposts for law enforcement leaders

in developing innovative programs

for responding to and preventing

hate crimes.

ADDRESSING HATE CRIMES

4
III. DOJ Law Enforcement Training:

The Essential Building Block to an Effective

Response to Hate Violence

BUREAU OF JUSTICE ASSISTANCE 5

PREVENTING AND COMBATING HATE

CRIMES ARE AMONG THE MOST

IMPORTANT CHALLENGES FOR LAW

ENFORCEMENT AND FOR OUR NATION.

VIOLENCE COMMITTED BECAUSE THE VICTIMS LOOK DIFFERENT, PRACTICE A DIFFERENT FAITH, OR COME FROM A

DIFFERENT ETHNIC BACKGROUND THREATENS AMERICA’S MOST CHERISHED IDEALS.

LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS ARE ON THE

FRONT LINES AND PERFORM CRITICAL SERVICES IN RESPONDING TO BIAS-MOTIVATED

HATE CRIMES THAT OCCUR IN OUR COMMUNITIES. THE EFFECTIVENESS OF OUR

HATE CRIME LAW DEPENDS ON POLICE

OFFICERS. THAT IS WHY IT IS ESSENTIAL

THAT LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS RECEIVE

PROPER TRAINING.

—Janet Reno

Attorney General

October 1999

Law enforcement officers play 

a key role in responding to hate

crimes. Their actions in protecting

and assisting the victim at the

scene of the hate crime, conducting the initial investigation, and

reporting the matter to superiors as

a possible hate crime are critical

factors in determining the response

of both law enforcement and the

community to the incident. The

investigation of the incident by

either the initial responding officers or detectives can determine

whether the case is prosecutable. 

The impact of officer training on

initial hate crime responses and

subsequent investigations cannot

be overestimated. Although hate

crimes present significant problems

and challenges for the nation, the

number of hate crimes is small

compared with that of other violent

crimes. To identify possible hate

crimes, respond to victim and

community concerns, and conduct

effective investigations, police officers need both initial comprehensive training and periodic refresher

courses. 

Officers who are inadequately

trained to handle hate crimes may

fail to identify indicators of hate

crimes, respond inappropriately to

victims, fail to apprehend a perpetrator who may strike again, exacerbate community tensions, and

undermine confidence in law

enforcement. As law enforcement

agencies across the nation have

demonstrated, hate crime training

must be thorough and widespread. 
In response to this need for officer training, BJA provided funds

and support to three projects targeting law enforcement: 

• DOJ’s National Hate Crime

Training Initiative.

• BJA’s Roll Call Video.

• The IACP’s Responding to Hate

Crimes: A Police Officer’s Guide

to Investigation and Prevention.

The breadth of these projects

demonstrates law enforcement’s

commitment and creativity in

developing a multifaceted approach

to hate crimes.

DOJ’s National Hate

Crime Training Initiative 

In 1997, under the direction of

Attorney General Janet Reno, DOJ

called together a working group

comprising representatives of prosecution, law enforcement, victim

services, and training agencies.

The Attorney General charged the

working group to develop four

training curricula on hate crimes,

each designed for a different level

of law enforcement: patrol and

responding officers, investigators

and detectives, supervisors and

command officers, and an audience of all levels of law enforcement professionals. The working

group included representatives of

several agencies within DOJ (the

FBI, the Community Relations

Service, and OVC) and additional

federal and state agencies including the National Association of

Attorneys General, the U.S.

Department of Treasury’s Federal

Law Enforcement Training Center,

and the International Association of

Directors of Law Enforcement

Standards and Training. The working group met regularly over summer and fall 1997 to develop the

four hate crime training curricula.

On November 10, 1997,

President Clinton announced the

training initiative at the White House

Conference on Hate Crimes. The

working group continued editing 

the curricula and began to develop

the national train-the-trainer 

program to be implemented in 

fall 1998. 

The curricula for patrol and

responding officers, investigators

and detectives, and a mixed audience of law enforcement professionals have been printed and

distributed, and the fourth, for

supervisors and command officers,

is scheduled to be printed in 2000.

Each curriculum provides trainers with lesson plans and training

materials for an 8-hour course that

covers the following topics:

• History of bias crimes.

• Identifying hate crimes: definitions, bias crime indicators, and

offender typology.

• Legal issues.

• Guidelines for an effective

response.

• Investigative strategies and

guidelines for collection and

preservation of evidence.

ADDRESSING HATE CRIMES

6
• Victim trauma.

• Community strategies and 

relationships.

• Case studies.

The curricula, using a mix of

teaching approaches including lectures, class activities, and videos,

can be modified by trainers to fit 

a shorter time period other than

the full 8-hour presentation. 

The working group realized that

to ensure that the hate crime curricula would be used widely and

effectively, a national training initiative had to be developed and

implemented. The working group

drew up a plan to train teams of

trainers who would commit to conducting a minimum of four hate

crime trainings within their states.

The first two steps in this process

were to select the state training

teams and to hold three regional

train-the-trainer conferences.

The selection process began in

early 1998 when DOJ sent letters

to key law enforcement leaders in

every state, including the U.S.

Attorney, the state attorney general, the director of the state IACP

organization, and the director of

the state law enforcement training

organization. DOJ asked these

leaders to recommend individuals

who had expertise in law enforcement, victim assistance, civil rights

advocacy, or community relations

to serve on their state’s training

team. The working group then

selected the training teams from

the recommendations. In total, 

78 teams were selected from 50

states and the District of Columbia.

The training teams were then

assigned to attend one of the

three regional train-the-trainer 

conferences. 

The intensive, 21

⁄2-day train-thetrainer conferences were held in

September and October 1998 in

Chicago, Orlando, and Phoenix. 

The faculty, consisting of members of the DOJ Hate Crime Law

Enforcement Working Group, 

represented a diverse group of professionals with extensive experience

in hate crimes training. Conference

participants were extremely

impressed with both the skill and

energy of the instructors and the

breadth and scope of the curricula.

THE CUMULATIVE IMPACT OF THESE

SCORES OF TRAININGS TO THOUSANDS

OF OFFICERS CANNOT BE OVERESTIMATED. IN POLICE DEPARTMENTS THROUGHOUT

THE COUNTRY OFFICERS NOW ARE PREPARED

TO RESPOND TO AND INVESTIGATE POTENTIAL

HATE CRIMES WITH SPEED, KNOWLEDGE, AND

SKILL. THE RESULT IS NOT ONLY MORE EFFECTIVE ENFORCEMENT OF HATE CRIME LAWS

BUT, JUST AS IMPORTANT, IMPROVED RESPECT

FOR POLICE DEPARTMENTS FROM THE COMMUNITIES THEY SERVE.

—Nancy Gist 

Director, Bureau of Justice Assistance

BJA has since dedicated personnel and funding to coordinate

local trainings to be conducted by

DOJ Law Enforcement Training

BUREAU OF JUSTICE ASSISTANCE 7
train-the-trainer workshop participants. In the past 12 months, state

training teams in 31 states have

conducted more than 138 trainings.

More than 4,000 law enforcement

and other professionals have

received training.

Refresher Training

Both BJA and the IACP recognize that a truly comprehensive

approach to hate crime training

must go beyond the classroom.

Officers who do not receive the 

8-hour training on hate crime investigation and response need practical

and readily available resources for

learning the basics of responding to

hate crimes. Similarly, officers who

have taken the full-day course will

benefit from periodic short refresher programs. BJA and the IACP

have met these needs with two

training projects, BJA’s Roll Call

Video and the IACP’s publication

Responding to Hate Crimes: A

Police Officer’s Guide to Investigation and Prevention, production of

which was funded by BJA and OVC.

Roll Call Video: Responding to

Hate Crimes 

BJA’s Roll Call Video, a 20-

minute film, is designed to be

shown either in its entirety or in

shorter segments at roll calls or on

other occasions when officers are

gathered. The video begins with an

introduction by Attorney General

Janet Reno and is narrated by Oak

Bluffs, Massachusetts, Police Chief

Joseph Carter. It covers major

areas of hate crime investigation

and response:

• Identification of bias indicators.

• Initial response to a potential

hate crime.

• Investigation of a potential hate

crime.

• Collection and presentation of

evidence.

• Importance of understanding and

responding to victim trauma.

• Maintenance of good community relations when responding to

hate crimes.

• Resources that are available to

officers.

In early 2000, BJA will send a

copy of the video (in excess of

14,000 copies) to every state,

county, and municipal law enforcement agency in the nation.

Accompanying the video is a

short instructor’s handbook, which

provides answers to frequently

asked questions about hate crimes

and explains how to analyze bias

indicators at a crime scene. The

ADDRESSING HATE CRIMES

8

I WAS VERY IMPRESSED WITH BOTH

CHIEF CARTER’S CLEAR AND CONCISE

PRESENTATION AND THE REALISTIC

VIDEO SEGMENTS SHOWING ACTUAL

CRIMES. THE VIDEO COVERS THE MAJOR

AREAS OF HATE CRIME RESPONSE IN A

SHORT AMOUNT OF TIME. SIMPLY PUT,

THIS IS A VERY EFFECTIVE TRAINING TOOL.

—David A. Loranger, Detective Sergeant

Saco, Maine, Police Department
handbook also includes supplementary instructions.

BJA’s Roll Call Video is a quick

and effective way to provide

concrete information in a visually

compelling format. Police officers

have found the video to be both

explicit and instructive.

Responding to Hate Crimes: 

A Police Officer’s Guide to

Investigation and Prevention

The IACP’s publication, Responding to Hate Crimes: A Police

Officer’s Guide to Investigation and

Prevention, contains two training

tools: a 12-page guidebook that

covers major components of an

effective response to an investigation of hate crimes and a smaller,

detachable pocket guide outlining

specific investigative procedures,

designed to be placed in an officer’s pocket, under a visor, or on 

a clipboard.

The 12-page guide is intended 

to be kept in an officer’s briefcase

or cruiser. The booklet includes 

clearly written comprehensive

checklists, and covers the essential

components of an effective

response to hate crimes:

• Definition of hate crimes.

• Difference between hate crimes

and bias incidents.

• Key indicators of bias motivation.

• Steps to take at the scene of a

possible hate crime.

• Effective approaches to assisting victims of hate crimes.

• Strategies police departments

and officers can take in their

communities to prevent hate

crimes.

The small detachable pocket

guide is designed to be kept in an

officer’s pocket or cruiser for quick

reference when an officer is called to

respond to a possible hate crime. It

addresses the key issues an officer

faces at the scene of a hate crime.

The officer can quickly review the

essential components of effective

hate crime response: the definition

of hate crimes, actions to be taken

at the crime scene, key indicators of

hate crimes, and ways to meet the

needs of hate crime victims.

DOJ Law Enforcement Training

BUREAU OF JUSTICE ASSISTANCE 9

TO BE TRULY EFFECTIVE FOR LARGE

NUMBERS OF POLICE OFFICERS,

TRAINING MUST BE MULTILEVEL, MULTIMEDIA, FLEXIBLE, AND PRACTICAL.

THE ARRAY OF TRAINING OPTIONS AVAILABLE TO POLICE OFFICERS—FROM AN

8-HOUR TRAINING AND A 20-MINUTE

VIDEO TO AN 8-PAGE BOOKLET AND A

SMALL POCKET INSERT—MEETS EACH OF

THESE CRITERIA. WE NOW, FOR THE FIRST

TIME, HAVE THE TOOLS WITH WHICH TO

ENSURE THAT ALL LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS THROUGHOUT OUR NATION RECEIVE

NEEDED INFORMATION AND TRAINING ON

RESPONDING TO AND INVESTIGATING HATE

CRIMES.

—Mike Robinson

Superintendent of Michigan State Police

President, IACP
The IACP, with funding from BJA

and OVC, plans to print 450,000

copies of the publication (including 

the pocket insert) and distribute

them to police departments and

victims advocates across the nation.

ADDRESSING HATE CRIMES

10
BUREAU OF JUSTICE ASSISTANCE 11

IV. The American Prosecutors

Research Institute’s Resource Guide

for Prosecutors 

The goal of the American

Prosecutors Research Institute project, supported by funding from

BJA, is to provide prosecuting

offices with a comprehensive

resource guide for responding to

and preventing hate crimes. In

January 1999 APRI established an

18-member advisory group to

create a resource guide and develop training for prosecutors. The

advisory group includes 10 local

prosecutors as well as representatives from the IACP, the AntiDefamation League, the Center on

Hate and Extremism, the National

Center for Victims of Crime, Facing

History, a county sheriff’s office,

the FBI, and the DOJ Community

Relations Service. The advisory

group, together with staff from the

APRI, is in the process of writing a

resource guide that will be published in early 2000.

When completed, the more than

100-page resource guide will be

bound in a 3-ring binder to facilitate

updating (such as new legislation

and court decisions). It will cover

several issues that arise during

hate crime prosecutions:

• Working with outside agencies

and organizations.

• Case screening and investigation.

• Case assignment and preparation.

• Victim and witness impact and

support.

• Trial preparation.

• Sentencing alternatives.

• Prevention efforts.

APRI plans to distribute a copy

of the resource guide to all 3,100

local and state prosecutor’s offices

in the country. 

By highlighting model protocols

and procedures from offices

around the nation, the resource

guide will help prosecutor’s offices

develop policies and procedures on

handling hate crime investigations

PROSECUTORS HAVE TREMENDOUS

POTENTIAL TO PREVENT HATE CRIMES

AND RESTORE JUSTICE TO BOTH VICTIMS AND COMMUNITIES. WHILE MANY

PROSECUTORS HAVE GAINED SOME EXPERIENCE WITH THE PROSECUTION OF HATE

CRIME CASES, MOST PROSECUTING OFFICERS DO NOT HAVE WRITTEN POLICIES ON

HANDLING HATE CRIMES.

—APRI Project Overview
ADDRESSING HATE CRIMES

12

and prosecutions. It also will provide a comprehensive roadmap to

individual prosecutors who are

handling hate crime cases. Both

prosecutors who are working on

their first hate crime case and

more experienced prosecutors of

bias crimes will find the resource

guide helpful.

After the resource guide is published, APRI and its advisory group

will turn its attention to the development of training on hate crime

response and prosecution. The 

initial effort will be to hold a training conference for teams from

prosecutorial districts. The teams

will include prosecutors, police officers, and victim service professionals. The training will follow a

team approach. Investigation, victim outreach and support, and

prosecution will be integrated into

one coordinated system that will

provide more effective enforcement of hate crime laws and

increased responsiveness to both

victims and the community. 
V. The Maine Civil Rights Officers

Project:

THE TANGIBLE RESULTS OF MAINE’S

EFFORTS HAVE BEEN EXTRAORDINARY—

A HIGH LEVEL OF REPORTING OF POTENTIAL HATE CRIMES BY POLICE AGENCIES

AND A LARGE NUMBER OF ENFORCEMENT

CASES BROUGHT SUCCESSFULLY TO COURT

BY PROSECUTORS. BUT PERHAPS EVEN

MORE IMPORTANT HAS BEEN THE STRONG

UNIFIED MESSAGE SENT BY LAW ENFORCEMENT AT ALL LEVELS THAT HATE CRIMES

WILL NOT BE TOLERATED WITHIN OUR STATE. 

—Andrew Ketterer

Attorney General, State of Maine

Maine is 1 of 15 states with a

civil hate crime law. This law

authorizes the state attorney general to obtain restraining orders or

injunctions against persons who

engage in bias-motivated violence,

threats, or property damage. In

1992, with support from BJA, the

Maine Attorney General’s Office

designed a coordinated enforcement system with local, county,

campus, and state police agencies.

This system relies on designated

civil rights officers from each 

of these law enforcement agencies to report hate crimes and

bias incidents to the Attorney

General’s Office and coordinate

the response of their departments

with the enforcement efforts of 

the Attorney General’s Office and

other prosecutorial agencies.

The program was put into place

in fall 1992 when the Maine attorney general sent a letter to every

police chief and sheriff in the state

requesting that he or she designate

an officer as the civil rights officer

for the department and send the

officer to a full-day training session

conducted by the Attorney

General’s Office.

The Attorney General’s Office

conducts two types of training: fullday biannual trainings and certification of designated civil rights

officers and shorter trainings at the

department, regional, or police

academy level. Since 1992, the

Attorney General’s Office has conducted full-day training sessions

for more than 670 civil rights officers from law enforcement departments located throughout the state

and more than 80 shorter trainings

for local and regional departments

and at police training academies.

More than 1,500 officers have

attended these latter trainings.

A Coordinated System of Training,

Reporting, Investigation, and Prosecution 

BUREAU OF JUSTICE ASSISTANCE 13
ADDRESSING HATE CRIMES

14

As of fall 1999, at least 1 civil

rights officer had been trained and

certified in 147 of the 153 police

departments at the municipal,

county, state, and campus levels.

Early in 2000 the New Hampshire

Attorney General’s Office will begin

implementation of a similar civil

rights officers system. 

The Maine enforcement system

coordinates the response of police

and prosecutors at local, state, and

federal levels. When civil rights

officers report possible hate crimes

to the Attorney General’s Office,

that office quickly determines

whether to pursue the matter as a

possible civil rights violation. If the

matter is pursued, an assistant

attorney general is assigned to

work with the civil rights officer

from the reporting department to

coordinate the investigation. The

Attorney General’s Office then

notifies the county district attorney

and the U.S. Attorney if the matter

appears to violate either state hate

crime laws or federal criminal civil

rights laws. These actions result in

investigations that are thorough

and efficient and are coordinated

among three levels of prosecutors.
VI. Conclusion 

WHILE LAW ENFORCEMENT’S ACCOMPLISHMENTS HAVE BEEN SIGNIFICANT,

THEY ARE MADE WITH A KEEN UNDERSTANDING OF THE NEED FOR PERSEVERANCE AND A CONSTANT RENEWED

COMMITMENT TO PERSEVERE IN AMERICA’S

FIGHT AGAINST HATE AND VIOLENCE.

—Janet Reno

Attorney General

Unfortunately the nation’s work 

in confronting bias and prejudice

and the violence that they engender

is not over. Hate crimes present a

challenge to law enforcement to

design mechanisms and systems

for responding to the divisive and

destructive impact of hate violence. Recently, law enforcement,

with financial, technical, and professional support from DOJ, has

mobilized to meet this challenge by

designing comprehensive and flexible training programs, developing

protocols for fast and effective

response, and implementing systems for coordinated enforcement

and prosecution.

BUREAU OF JUSTICE ASSISTANCE 15
VII. For More Information 

Anti-Defamation League

823 United Nations Plaza

New York, NY 10017

Phone: 212–490–2525

Arab American Institute

918 16th Street NW., Suite 601

Washington, DC 20006

Phone: 202–429–9210

Fax: 202–429–9214

Bureau of Justice Assistance 

Clearinghouse

P.O. Box 6000

Rockville, MD 20849–6000

Phone: 1–800–688–4252

Fax: 301–519–5212

E-mail: askncjrs@ncjrs.org 

Bureau of Justice Statistics

810 Seventh Street NW.

Washington, DC 20531

Phone: 202–307–0765

Fax: 202–307–5846

Community Relations Service

U.S. Department of Justice

600 E Street NW., Suite 2000

Washington, DC 20530

Phone: 202–305–2935

Fax: 202–305–3009

Disability Law Center

11 Beacon Street, Suite 925

Boston, MA 02108

Phone: 617–723–8455

Fax: 617–723–9125

Facing History and Ourselves 

National Foundation

16 Hurd Road

Brookline, MA 02146

Phone: 617–232–1595

Fax: 617–232–0281

Federal Bureau of Investigation

J. Edgar Hoover Building

10th Street and Pennsylvania 

Avenue NW.

Washington, DC 20535

Phone: 202–324–1143

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Criminal Justice Information 

Services Division

Attn: Uniform Crime Reports

1000 Custer Hollow Road

Clarksburg, WV 26306

Phone: 304–625–4995

Fax: 304–625–5394

Human Rights Campaign

1101 14th Street NW., Suite 200

Washington, DC 20005

Phone: 202–628–4160

Fax: 202–347–5323

International Association of 

Chiefs of Police

515 North Washington Street

Alexandria, VA 22314–2357

Phone: 703–836–6767

Fax: 703–836–4543

BUREAU OF JUSTICE ASSISTANCE 17
ADDRESSING HATE CRIMES

18

National Asian Pacific American 

Legal Consortium

1140 Connecticut Avenue NW., 

Suite 1200

Washington, DC 20036

Phone: 202–296–2300

Fax: 202–296–2318

National Conference of Christians 

and Jews 

71 Fifth Avenue, Suite 1100

New York, NY 10003

Phone: 212–206–0006

Fax: 212–255–6177

National Congress of American 

Indians

2010 Massachusetts Avenue NW., 

Second Floor

Washington, DC 20036

Phone: 202–466–7767

Fax: 202–466–7797

National Council of La Raza

1111 19th Street NW., Suite 1000

Washington, DC 20036

Phone: 202–785–1670

Fax: 202–776–1792

National Criminal Justice 

Association

444 North Capitol Street NW., 

Suite 618

Washington, DC 20001

Phone: 202–624–1440

Fax: 202–508–3859

National Gay and Lesbian 

Task Force

2320 17th Street NW.

Washington, DC 20009–2702

Phone: 202–332–6483

Fax: 202–332–0207

National Network of Violence 

Prevention

55 Chapel Street

Newton, MA 02158

Phone: 617–969–7100

Fax: 617–244–3436

National Women’s Law Center

11 Dupont Circle NW., Suite 800

Washington, DC 20036

Phone: 202–588–5180

Fax: 202–588–5185

Office for Victims of Crime

810 Seventh Street NW.

Washington, DC 20531

Phone: 202–307–5983

Fax: 202–514–6383

Office of Juvenile Justice and 

Delinquency Prevention

810 Seventh Street NW.

Washington, DC 20531

Phone: 202–307–5911

Fax: 202–307–2093

President’s Initiative for 

One America

The Old Executive Office Building

Washington, DC 20503

Phone: 202–395–1010

Fax: 202–395–1020

Simon Wiesenthal Center

9760 West Pico Boulevard

Los Angeles, CA 90035

Phone: 310–553–9036

Fax: 310–553–8007

U.S. Commission on Civil Rights

624 Ninth Street NW.,

Suite 700

Washington, DC 20425

Phone: 202–337–0382

Fax: 202–376–7558
U.S. Department of Education

600 Independence Avenue SW.

Washington, DC 20202

Phone: 202–205–5557

Fax: 202–205–5381

U.S. Department of Housing and 

Urban Development

451 Seventh Street NW.,

Room 10000

Washington, DC 20531

Phone: 202–708–0417

Fax: 202–708–2476

Violence Against Women Office

800 K Street NW., Suite 900

Washington, DC 20531

Phone: 202–616–8894

Fax: 202–307–3911

Women’s Legal Defense Fund

1875 Connecticut Avenue NW.,

Suite 710

Washington, DC 20009

Phone: 202–986–2600

Fax: 202–986–2539

For More Information

BUREAU OF JUSTICE ASSISTANCE 19
Bureau of Justice Assistance

Information

General Information

❒ Mail

P.O. Box 6000 

Rockville, MD 20849–6000

❒ Visit

2277 Research Boulevard 

Rockville, MD 20850

❒ Telephone 

1–800–688–4252 

Monday through Friday 

8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. 

eastern time

❒ Fax

301–519–5212

❒ Fax on Demand

1–800–688–4252

Callers may contact the U.S. Department of Justice Response Center for general information or specific needs, such as assistance in submitting grant applications and information

on training. To contact the Response Center, call 1–800–421–6770 or write to 1100

Vermont Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20005.

Indepth Information

For more indepth information about BJA, its programs, and its funding opportunities,

requesters can call the BJA Clearinghouse. The BJA Clearinghouse, a component of the

National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS), shares BJA program information

with state and local agencies and community groups across the country. Information specialists are available to provide reference and referral services, publication distribution,

participation and support for conferences, and other networking and outreach activities.

The Clearinghouse can be reached by:

❒ BJA Home Page

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA

❒ NCJRS World Wide Web 

http://www.ncjrs.org

❒ E-mail

askncjrs@ncjrs.org

❒ JUSTINFO Newsletter

E-mail to listproc@ncjrs.org

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