State Hate Crimes Laws
O State with Hate Crimes Law on Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation O State with Hate Crimes Law on Sexual Orientation M State with Hate Crimes Law without Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity
New Hampshire N.H. R EV. STAT. § 651:6(I)(F)
WHAT DOES THE STATE LAW DO? Q
Allows for enhanced sentences of offenses against persons and property if “substantially motivated … because of hostility towards the victim’s religion, race, creed, sexual orientation … national origin or sex.” N.H. REV. STAT. § 651:6(I)(F).
HOW ARE LGBT PERSONS STILL NOT PROTECTED? Q
New Hampshire’s law does not cover hate crimes committed because of a victim’s gender identity/expression.
HOW COULD THE STATE LAW BE IMPROVED? Q
The law should include crimes committed because of a victim’s gender identity/expression. The federal Hate Crimes Prevention Act addresses crimes committed because of a victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity/expression. However, federal authority to investigate and prosecute is limited to hate crimes that affect interstate commerce. Because of this limitation, crimes committed in New Hampshire because of a person’s gender identity/ expression cannot be prosecuted as hate crimes unless they meet the tough interstate commerce requirement for intervention by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. If New Hampshire’s hate crimes law were amended to include crimes committed on the basis of the victim’s gender identity/expression, the state could more effectively prosecute these crimes. The state law would then provide protections that go beyond the HCPA.
Q
The law should require the collection and reporting of hate crimes data. The federal HCPA requires the FBI to track statistics on violent and non-violent (i.e., crimes against property) hate crimes. This tracking depends on federal, state and local officials to record and report all hate crimes as defined by the HCPA. Thus, even if New Hampshire’s law does not include gender identity/expression, those hate crimes should be carefully tracked and reported for federal purposes.
Q
The law should explicitly provide for police training on hate crimes.
A Guide to State-Level Advocacy Following Enactment of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act
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