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provide support for collaborative, community-driven and informed efforts, such as <br /> community-based diversion programs outside of the criminal justice system, <br /> increasing access to resources to support the right to counsel, and developing <br /> community-driven and informed prevention programs or responses to violent crime. <br /> Preventing and Combating Hate Crimes <br /> Hate crimes (sometimes called bias-motivated crimes) are criminal offenses <br /> motivated by some form of bias toward victims based on their perceived or actual <br /> race, color, ethnicity, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender <br /> identity, or disability. Hate crimes have a devastating effect beyond the harm <br /> inflicted on any one victim. They reverberate through families, communities, and <br /> the entire nation as others fear that they too may be threatened, attacked, or forced <br /> from their homes because of what they look like, who they are, where they worship, <br /> who they love, or whether they have a disability. As with most other crimes, hate <br /> crimes in the United States are primarily investigated under state law and <br /> prosecuted by local, state, and tribal authorities. However, reluctance from victims <br /> and witnesses to contact law enforcement about hate crime incidents may arise <br /> from perceptions of bias, distrust of law enforcement or the criminal justice system, <br /> or barriers such as language or concerns about immigration status. Hate crimes are <br /> chronically underreported to and under-identified by law enforcement. Tools such <br /> as the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics' National Crime Victimization Survey <br /> NCVS and the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI's) Uniform Crime Reporting <br /> (UCR) program shed some light on trends among those hate crimes reported to law <br /> enforcement or through NCVS. Although hate crimes are often underreported, in <br /> recent years, there have been alarming spikes in hate crimes and threats of <br /> violence across the country, often fueled by online hate forums. In 2021 and 2022, <br /> there were several attacks on houses of worship, threats against Historically Black <br /> Colleges and Universities, and increased attacks on Asian Americans. Though <br /> many jurisdictions are facing significant increases in hate crimes and hate <br /> incidents, a recent research study and survey from the National Institute of Justice <br /> (NIS indicates that many state and local law enforcement agencies do not have <br /> adequate tools to identify, investigate, and respond to hate crimes, and only 23 <br /> percent of law enforcement agencies that responded to the survey reported any <br /> hate crime investigations in 2018. <br /> In September 2022, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced that all 94 U.S. <br /> Attorneys' offices would be implementing the United Against Hate Program and <br /> emphasized that eliminating hate and bias-motivated crimes is one of DOJ's top <br /> priorities, and combating hate crimes and promoting trust and accountability in law <br /> enforcement was one of the Department's priority goals for fiscal year 2023. BJA <br /> encourages JAG recipients to utilize funding to promote change and accountability <br /> by supporting state, local, and tribal efforts to prevent hate crimes, improve data <br /> collection and reporting of hate-related criminal offenses and incidents, and <br /> promote efforts to fully investigate and prosecute hate crimes when they do occur. <br /> Page 10 of 38 <br /> O-BJA-2023-171790 <br />