Hate Crime Prevention Act Research Paper

Due to the rise of arson among churches, 1996 President Bill Clinton signed into law the Church Arson Prevention Act on July 3, 1996. This act stipulated that is a crime to deface, damage or destroy religious property, or interfere with a person’s religious practice in situations affecting interstate commerce.9 This changed the sentencing of destroying religious property from 10 years to 20 years. It also increased the statue of limitations from 5 years to 7 years after the date the crime was committed.

F. The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009
Unfortunately, not all laws our leaders pass is perfect. Fortunately for us living in America, we can amend laws to better serve the American people. On October 28, 2009, President Barack Obama signed into law the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act.
In retrospect to the people that this Act was named after, Matthew Shepard was the victim of a hate crime against him on October 7, 1998. He was a gay college student that attended the University of Wyoming in Laramie and he was abducted and …show more content…
I only researched this to see what my home state and the current state I reside in have as their law since per the Constitution, each state can implement their own laws in addition to federal laws. It was first reported that there are 5 states that do not have hate crime legislation emplaced. Wyoming, Indiana, Arkansas, South Carolina, and Georgia, my home state, are the states without hate crime legislation. Later, Newsweek did a revision that there are 3 states without hate crime legislation; Arkansas, South Carolina and Georgia.11 Given the past of these states, it is hard to believe that they do not have hate crime legislation. Especially in South Carolina with the recent hate crime committed by Dylann