The Hate Crime Statistics Act
28 U.S.C. § 534
(HCSA), passed in 1990 and modified in 2009 by the

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, and signed into law by President Barack Obama on October 28, 2009, as a rider to the National Defense Auth ...

, requires the

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

to collect data on crimes committed because of the victim's race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or ethnicity. The bill was signed into law by

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; p ...

, and was the first federal statute to "recognize and name gay, lesbian and bisexual people." Since 1992, the

Department of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

through one of its agencies, the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...

, has jointly published an annual report on hate crime statistics. On November 16, 2020, the FBI released its 2019 Hate Crime Statistics Act (HCSA) report with the total number of reported hate crime incidents rising 2.7% to 7,317 (2019) from 7,120 (2018).

References

1990 in law United States federal criminal legislation 1990 in LGBT history {{US-fed-statute-stub