Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act — Federal Bias Crime Law

The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act — enacted in 2009 as part of the National Defense Authorization Act and codified at 34 U.S.C. §§ 30501–30507 — is the primary federal hate crime statute. It expanded federal hate crime coverage for the first time since 1969 to include crimes motivated by the victim's actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability, in addition to race, color, religion, and national origin. For the older Reconstruction-era civil rights criminal statutes (sections 241 and 242), see Federal Civil Rights Crimes. The law authorizes federal prosecution of bias-motivated crimes that were previously solely a matter of state law, allows the Department of Justice to provide investigative and prosecutorial assistance to state and local authorities, and funds grants for law enforcement training and reporting. The law is named for Matthew Shepard, a gay college student beaten to death in Wyoming in 1998, and James Byrd Jr., a Black man dragged to death in Texas the same year.

Current Law (2026)

Legal Authority

• 34 U.S.C. § 30501 — Findings (Congressional findings establishing the seriousness of bias-motivated violence and its impact on communities)
• 34 U.S.C. § 30503 — Support for state, local, and tribal law enforcement (authorizes the Attorney General to provide technical, forensic, prosecutorial, and other assistance to state and local investigations of crimes that constitute crimes of violence, are state/local/tribal felonies, and are motivated by prejudice based on race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability)
• 34 U.S.C. § 30504 — Grant program (authorizes OJP grants to state, local, and tribal programs designed to combat hate crimes, including law enforcement officer training programs)
• 34 U.S.C. § 30507 — Jabara-Heyer NO HATE Act (2022 additions requiring states receiving Byrne JAG funding to certify they are taking steps to improve hate crime data collection; creates additional grants for hate crime hotlines and reporting programs)
• 18 U.S.C. § 249 — Hate crime acts (the federal criminal provision; makes it a crime to willfully cause bodily injury — or attempt to do so using fire, firearm, or explosive — when the crime was committed because of the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability of any person)

What the Law Does

Federal prosecution authority: The Act significantly expanded when the federal government can prosecute a hate crime directly. Before 2009, federal hate crime law required the victim to have been engaged in a federally protected activity (such as serving on a jury or enrolling in school). The 2009 Act eliminated that requirement for crimes based on race, color, religion, or national origin, and added entirely new federal coverage for sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability. Now, the federal government can prosecute a hate crime based on any of these characteristics as long as the crime involves interstate commerce — an extremely broad jurisdictional hook that covers nearly any weapon, vehicle, or communication that crossed state lines.

Federal assistance to states: The law's most commonly used provision isn't direct federal prosecution but federal assistance to state and local investigations, often coordinated through COPS and Project Safe Neighborhoods grant programs. When a local law enforcement agency lacks the expertise to investigate a complex bias crime — determining whether the crime was in fact motivated by bias, gathering digital evidence, analyzing patterns — the DOJ, FBI, and Bureau of Justice Assistance can provide investigators, forensic assistance, and prosecutorial guidance. This is especially important in smaller jurisdictions without hate crime investigation experience.

Grant funding for training and prevention: The Act authorizes grants to help law enforcement agencies train officers to identify, investigate, and prosecute hate crimes, and to develop community outreach and prevention programs. Grants specifically target juvenile hate crime prevention.

The NO HATE Act (2022): The Jabara-Heyer NO HATE Act, added to the statute in 2022, addressed a persistent problem: underreporting. Thousands of law enforcement agencies report zero hate crimes each year even in jurisdictions where incidents clearly occur. The NO HATE Act creates incentives for better reporting — funding state programs that establish reporting hotlines, create local reporting mechanisms, and certify improvement plans. It also requires Byrne JAG grant recipients (virtually every state) to report on hate crime data collection improvement.

What the law does not do: Federal hate crime prosecution is reserved for cases where state prosecution is insufficient or unavailable. Most hate crimes are prosecuted under state law. Federal involvement is the exception, typically reserved for cases involving particularly severe violence, inadequate state response, or crimes in states with weak hate crime laws.

How It Affects You

If you or someone you know is a victim of a bias-motivated crime: Report to both local/state law enforcement and the FBI — federal and state charges can run simultaneously. The FBI's online tip submission at tips.fbi.gov accepts hate crime reports directly; you can also call your nearest FBI field office (fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices). Documenting bias motivation from the start is critical: write down every slur, statement, or symbol used by the attacker; preserve photos of graffiti or vandalism before cleanup; note any witnesses. The bias motivation is what elevates the crime from a standard assault or vandalism to a hate crime — and without documentation in the initial police report, it's much harder to pursue hate crime charges later. If local authorities don't document the bias motivation in their initial report, ask them to do so explicitly, or file a separate statement with the police department. Federal crime victims have specific rights under the Crime Victims' Rights Act (18 U.S.C. § 3771): the right to be reasonably heard in proceedings, the right to confer with prosecutors, and access to victim compensation programs. The Office for Victims of Crime (ovc.ojp.gov) maintains a VictimConnect Resource Center at victimconnect.org (1-855-4-VICTIM) that provides referrals to victim services, legal assistance, and compensation programs in your state.

If you're part of a community organization, house of worship, or identity group facing a pattern of threats or bias incidents: Even without an individual prosecutable crime, DOJ has tools to help. The DOJ Community Relations Service (CRS) — the department's "peacemakers" — can facilitate dialogue between affected communities and local authorities, mediate tension, and help communities develop safety protocols without taking enforcement action. Contact CRS at justice.gov/crs or through your nearest DOJ regional office. If your community faces a pattern of threats — a mosque receiving repeated threatening letters, an LGBTQ+ center vandalized multiple times — the FBI can open a civil rights pattern investigation even without a specific named suspect, and DOJ Civil Rights Division prosecutors (justice.gov/crt) have independent authority to investigate when state/local response seems inadequate. Organizations like the Anti-Defamation League (adl.org), Human Rights Campaign (hrc.org), and NAACP (naacp.org) can connect affected communities with DOJ contacts and legal support.

If you're a law enforcement officer or agency administrator: Federal funding through OJP's Bureau of Justice Assistance supports hate crime training, protocol development, and reporting improvements. Your agency's participation in the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Hate Crime Statistics Program is voluntary but important — the national hate crime data that Congress, researchers, and communities rely on is only as accurate as what agencies report. In 2021, only 12,411 of approximately 18,000 law enforcement agencies participated in hate crime reporting — meaning the published national numbers significantly undercount actual incidents. If your agency doesn't have standardized protocols for recognizing and documenting bias motivation, OJP training grants can fund development. The Bureau of Justice Assistance's Hate Crime Resource Center and the International Association of Chiefs of Police (theiacp.org) publish model hate crime protocols and training curricula that your agency can adapt.

If you're an advocate, researcher, or journalist tracking hate crime trends: The FBI's Hate Crime Statistics report — published annually at ucr.fbi.gov/hate-crime — is the primary federal data source, but it is a known significant undercount for several structural reasons: (1) agency participation is voluntary and incomplete; (2) victims underreport to police; (3) officers often don't recognize or document bias motivation. The Bureau of Justice Statistics' National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) provides a population-based supplement that captures unreported crimes; BJS estimates that only about half of hate crime victimizations are reported to police. For detailed trend analysis, the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State San Bernardino (csbs.csusb.edu/hate-and-extremism) and the Southern Poverty Law Center's Hatewatch (splcenter.org/hatewatch) publish annual analyses that go beyond FBI statistics. For international comparisons, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (osce.org/odihr) tracks hate crime data across 57 member states.

State Variations

As of 2026, 47 states and the District of Columbia have their own hate crime statutes, but coverage varies significantly. Some state laws do not cover sexual orientation or gender identity. A few states have no hate crime statute at all. The federal Matthew Shepard Act covers all protected characteristics in all states, serving as a floor. In states with strong hate crime laws, most prosecutions happen at the state level; in states with weak or absent coverage, federal prosecution is more common.

Pending Legislation

Legislation to strengthen federal hate crime reporting requirements and expand protected characteristics has been introduced in multiple Congresses. Proposals to add law enforcement and emergency medical technicians as protected classes have passed the House but stalled in the Senate. Debates over the scope of federal hate crime authority — and whether "hate crime" statutes raise First Amendment concerns by punishing thought rather than conduct — continue to be litigated and debated politically.

• HR 2201 — LGBTQ+ Panic Defense Prohibition Act of 2025: would ban panic defenses that excuse crimes based on a victim's sexual orientation or gender identity and require annual DOJ reporting. Status: Introduced.
• HR 2457 — Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act of 2025: would create domestic terrorism units in DHS, DOJ, and FBI targeting white supremacist threats. Status: Introduced.

Recent Developments

Federal hate crime prosecutions have increased since 2017, with particularly high-profile cases involving antisemitic and anti-Asian violence. The FBI reported 11,634 hate crime incidents in 2022 — the highest level recorded since data collection began, though experts attribute much of the increase to improved reporting rather than a simple surge in incidents. The NO HATE Act's incentive structure has modestly improved reporting rates from previously non-reporting jurisdictions. DOJ's Civil Rights Division has prioritized hate crime prosecution as a civil rights enforcement tool.

• Trump DOJ Civil Rights Division reorientation (2025): The Trump DOJ's Civil Rights Division shifted focus from traditional anti-discrimination and hate crime prosecution toward protecting religious expression, anti-Christian bias claims, and enforcement against alleged discrimination against conservatives. Hate crime prosecution activity — particularly for racially and ethnically motivated crimes — declined in 2025. The DOJ maintained antisemitism enforcement as a priority, prosecuting Hamas-sympathizing violence and campus harassment under federal law, while reducing emphasis on anti-Black and anti-LGBTQ+ hate crime referrals.
• Antisemitism surge and federal response: Antisemitic incidents surged following the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and subsequent Israel-Gaza conflict. DOJ and FBI prioritized prosecution of antisemitic hate crimes, vandalism, and threats under the Matthew Shepard Act and related statutes. The FBI reported a 63% increase in antisemitic incidents in 2023. Federal enforcement actions targeted pro-Hamas protesters who crossed from protected speech into threats or property destruction, drawing civil liberties challenges about the line between political protest and criminal conduct.
• Anti-Asian hate crimes and COVID-era legacy: The COVID HATE Crimes Act (2021), which complemented the Matthew Shepard Act by directing DOJ to issue guidance on hate crime reporting and establishing a DOJ point of contact for anti-Asian hate crime reports, produced sustained improvement in Asian-American hate crime reporting. Federal prosecutions of anti-Asian hate crimes — which spiked 107% between 2020 and 2021 — continued through 2025, though the elevated incident rate has moderated from COVID-era peaks. The interaction between the Matthew Shepard Act's penalty enhancement structure and state-level anti-Asian hate crime legislation illustrates the dual-enforcement model the federal law was designed to support.
• Gender identity and sexual orientation hate crimes: The Matthew Shepard Act's coverage of sexual orientation and gender identity has been central to federal prosecution of anti-LGBTQ+ violence. The Trump DOJ's refusal to issue new guidance on gender identity protections — and its withdrawal of Biden-era guidance interpreting "sex" to include gender identity under Title IX and Bostock — has not altered the Matthew Shepard Act's text, which explicitly covers "actual or perceived" sexual orientation and gender identity as protected characteristics. Federal hate crime charges for anti-transgender violence have continued under Trump DOJ when the evidence meets the "actual or perceived" standard, regardless of the administration's broader policy posture on gender identity.