About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

31 New Eng. L. Rev. 103 (1996-1997)
The Massachusetts Hate Crime Reporting Act of 1990: Great Expectations Yet Unfulfilled

handle is hein.journals/newlr31 and id is 113 raw text is: The Massachusetts Hate Crime Reporting Act of 1990: Great Expectations Yet Unfulfilled? Sally J. Greenberg* I. INTRODUCTION Crimes motivated by bias or bigotry are not a new phenomena.' Only in the last fifteen years, however, have those acts now known as hate crimes been recognized by states as worthy of documentation. Maryland was the first state to enact legislation that calls for documen- tation of these hate-motivated crimes.' Many states followed the lead' * Civil Rights Counsel for the Eastern States of the Anti-Defamation League from 1985-96. I wish to thank Kevin Banasik, at Harvard Law School and Alison Fee, at Boston University Law School, for their substantial contributions to this Article. Thanks to Michael Lieberman for his years of work on this issue and his editorial assistance on this Article; thanks also to Dan Bibel and Sherry Leibowitz for being comrades on the issue of improved hate-crime reporting, and finally, to Don Gorton, whose able leadership of the Hate Crime Task Force has made a real impact on the effectiveness of the Massachusetts Hate Crime Reporting Act. 1. See infra Part II.B. 2. Definitions of hate crime vary, but generally they refer to criminal activity that is directed against individuals or groups based upon actual or perceived identifi- cation with race, color, religion, national origin or sexual orientation. 3. See MD. ANN. CODE OF 1957 art. 88B, §§ 9-10 (1995 & Supp. 1996). Though Maryland adopted its data collection statute for hate crimes in 1981, effective collection of data did not begin until several years later. Comprehensive statistics are available for 1990-1994. 4. Eighteen states currently have a data collection law for hate crimes. They are as follows: Arizona (ARtz. REV. STAT. ANN. § 41-1750 (West 1995 & Supp. 1996)); California (CAL. PENAL CODE § 13023 (West 1992 & Supp. 1996)); Connecticut (CONN. GEN. STAT. ANN. § 29-7m (West 1990 & Supp. 1996)); District of Columbia (D.C. CODE ANN. §§ 22-4001 to 4002 (1996)); Florida (FLA. STAT. ANN. § 877.19 (West 1994 & Supp. 1996)); Idaho (IDAHO CODE § 67-2905 (1995 & Supp. 1996)); Illinois (20 ILL. COMP. STAT. ANN. 2605/55a (West 1993 & Supp. 1996)); Iowa (IOWA CODE ANN. § 692.15 (West 1993 & Supp. 1996)); Maryland (MD. ANN. CODE OF 1957 art. 88B, §§ 9-10 (1995 & Supp. 1996)); Massachusetts (MASS. GEN.

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most