Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act

Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act

Other short titles	Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009
Long title	To provide Federal assistance to States, local jurisdictions, and Indian tribes to prosecute hate crimes, and for other purposes.
Enacted by	the 111th United States Congress
Announced in	the 111th United States Congress
Number of co-sponsors	120
Codification
Titles amended	18 U.S.C.: Crimes and Criminal Procedure
U.S.C. sections created	18 U.S.C. ch. 13 § 249 et seq.
Legislative history
Introduced in the House of Representatives as H.R. 1913 by John Conyers (D–MI) on April 2, 2009 Committee consideration by House Judiciary Passed the House of Representatives on October 8, 2009 (281–146) Passed the Senate on July 23, 2009 (63–28) Signed into law by President Barack Obama on October 28, 2009

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Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act

The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act is a landmark United States federal law, passed on October 22, 2009,^[1] and signed into law by President Barack Obama on October 28, 2009,^[2] as a rider to the National Defense Authorization Act for 2010 (H.R. 2647). Conceived as a response to the murders of Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr., both in 1998, the measure expands the 1969 United States federal hate-crime law to include crimes motivated by a victim's actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.^[3]

The bill also:

• Removes, in the case of hate crimes related to the race, color, religion, or national origin of the victim, the prerequisite that the victim be engaging in a federally protected activity, like voting or going to school;
• Gives federal authorities greater ability to engage in hate crimes investigations that local authorities choose not to pursue;
• Provides $5 million per year in funding for fiscal years 2010 through 2012 to help state and local agencies pay for investigating and prosecuting hate crimes;
• Requires the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to track statistics on hate crimes based on gender and gender identity (statistics for the other groups were already tracked).^[4][5]