United States of America

In 2021, the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI's) Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program finalized the process of transitioning all federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies nationwide to the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). The NIBRS captures details about every crime incident – as well as about separate offences within the same incident – including information on victims, known offenders, relationships between victims and offenders, arrestees, and property involved in crimes. Unlike data reported through the UCR Program's Summary Reporting System (SRS) – an aggregate monthly tally of crimes – the NIBRS goes much deeper due to its ability to provide details on the circumstances and context for crimes, including the location, time of day, and whether the incident was cleared.

On 30 June 2021, the FBI launched a National Anti-hate Crimes Campaign involving all 56 FBI field offices to encourage reporting. The campaign includes outdoor advertising, billboards, and radio streaming in addition to social media.

In July 2021, the FBI Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division launched the Hate Crimes Explorer page on the Crime Data Explorer (CDE) Website. The CDE is an interactive tool that enables law enforcement and the public to use and more easily understand the massive amounts of Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) data currently collected and published by the FBI UCR Program. Deploying hate crime data to the CDE will help to increase the transparency of hate crime data across the country. The CDE includes hate crime statistics from 1991 and allows users to view the statistics by state or by individual law enforcement agency. The CDE also has a feature that compiles and displays tables and charts for a one-year, two-year, five-year or ten-year period.

Finally, in 2021, the FBI conducted its Threat Review and Prioritization (TRP) process, as a result of which Civil Rights Crimes – including hate crimes – were elevated to a Band 1 National Threat Priority (NTP), placing them at the top of the FBI's Criminal Investigative Division's priorities. As a result, 45 out of 56 FBI field offices increased their Civil Rights threat banding, necessitating an increase in resources allocated by those field offices.

After assuming office in March 2021, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland issued a directive on a 30-day internal review to determine how the Department of Justice could most effectively counter the recent rise in hate crimes and hate incidents. In May 2021, the Attorney General issued a comprehensive memorandum on this end, and ordered the Department of Justice to (1) improve incident reporting; (2) increase law enforcement training and co-ordination at all levels of government; and (3) prioritize community outreach. The Attorney General appointed a Hate Crimes Coordinator to centralize the efforts of Department attorneys, law enforcement partners, community organizations, and other stakeholders. The Coordinator oversees efforts to: establish online reporting of hate crimes; increase identification and classification of hate crimes in the NIBRS; provide financial support for local programmes designed to prevent, address, or otherwise respond to hate crimes; and issue guidance aimed at raising awareness of hate crimes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since May 2021, the Department of Justice has released significant funding to provide resources to communities to support projects devoted to promoting awareness, healing, and reconciliation, as well as service access and resource development.

In September 2021, the Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Statistics published the results of the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), applying data from 2005 to 2019. Hate crimes in the NCVS include violent and property crimes that the victim perceived to be motivated by bias against the victim's race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, disability, sexual orientation, or religion. It includes crimes reported and not reported to police. The report examines the number of hate crimes over time, characteristics of hate crimes, perceived bias motivations for these hate crimes, reporting to police and reasons for not reporting, and the demographic characteristics of victims and offenders. The following highlights can be mentioned: (i) during the 15-year period of 2005-19, 1,864 hate crime suspects were referred for prosecution to Unites States attorneys from federal judicial districts in all 50 states; (ii) hate crime matters investigated by United States attorneys' offices declined by 8 per cent (from 647 during 2005-2009, to 597 during 2015-2019); (iii) the conviction rate for hate crimes increased from 83 per cent during 2005-2009 to 94 per cent during 2015-2019; and (iv) approximately 85 per cent of defendants convicted of a hate crime were sentenced to prison, with an average term of more than 7.5 years.

In 2021, the Office for Community Oriented Policing at the Department of Justice (COPS Office) field tested a new hate crimes curriculum focused on police response, investigation, and reporting at the Nashville Metropolitan, Tennessee Police Department. The curriculum was developed through a partnership with the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) and nine leading law enforcement leadership and labour organizations, along with the Arlington, Texas Police Department.

On 26 January 2021, the United States President issued a Memorandum addressing intolerance, including hate crime, against Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) persons, families, communities, and businesses, in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Memorandum strongly condemned any forms of such intolerance and encouraged the relevant state agencies to adopt all possible measures to address it.

In March 2021, the United States Congress passed the "COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act" [Public Law No: 117-13 (05/20/2021), 34 U.S.C. 10101 Note]. The bill requires a designated officer or employee of the Department of Justice to facilitate the expedited review of hate crimes and reports of hate crimes. The Department of Justice is required to issue guidance for state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies on establishing online hate crime reporting processes, collecting data disaggregated by protected characteristics (e.g., race or national origin), and expanding education campaigns. Additionally, the Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services is required to issue guidance aimed at raising awareness of hate crimes during the COVID-19 pandemic. The bill establishes grants for states to create state-run hate crime reporting hotlines, and authorizes grants for states and local governments to implement the NIBRS and conduct law enforcement activities or crime reduction programmes to prevent, address, or respond to hate crimes. Finally, the bill allows courts to order persons convicted of a hate crime offence to participate in educational classes or community service as a condition of supervised release, where applicable.

In March 2022, the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America amended Section 249 of title 18, United States Code (18 U.S.C. 249) by adopting the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act, adding a new subsection (249(a)(5) and (6)) specifying that lynching is a hate crime act.