Department of Justice unveils new initiatives to combat hate crimes

The new initiatives include new guidance for law enforcement and community organizations on raising awareness and preventing hate crimes. These actions come just days after ten people were killed in a racially-motivated shooting at a Buffalo, New York supermarket.

News 12 Staff

May 21, 2022, 12:32 AM

Updated 934 days ago

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The Department of Justice on Friday unveiled three new initiatives aimed at combating hate crimes.
The new initiatives include new guidance for law enforcement and community organizations on raising awareness and preventing hate crimes. These actions come just days after ten people were killed in a racially-motivated shooting at a Buffalo, New York supermarket.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland declared Friday that fighting hate crimes was a founding mission of the Department of Justice.
"This department was founded in 1870 in the aftermath of the Civil War with the first fundamental purpose to fight the white supremacist attack on Black civil rights after the Civil War,” he said. “One hundred and fifty-two years later, the task to combat hate-fueled violence remains central to the department's mission."
The new initiatives also grant opportunities for states to create state-run hate crime reporting hotlines and restoring the office for access to justice in the D.O.J. along with its hiring of the first-ever language access coordinator.