The Nation : House Votes to Collect ‘Hate Crime’ Data

The House passed a bill requiring the federal government to keep track of “hate crimes” against minorities. The measure, passed 383 to 29, requires the Justice Department to collect and release data on the incidence of crimes motivated by prejudice based on race, religion, ethnicity or homosexuality. The bill now goes to the Senate. The FBI publishes an annual Uniform Crime Report based on information from some 16,000 state and local law enforcement agencies. However, the report does not currently include a national count of hate crimes such as crosses burned on black families’ lawns or swastikas scrawled on synagogue walls. “A hate crime is an act of violence which is accompanied by an additional motive: an attempt to intimidate a larger group or class of people,” said Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), chairman of the House Judiciary subcommittee on criminal justice.