By Marisol Bello, USAÂ TODAYThe Justice Department is prosecuting the fewest hate crimes in 10 years as civil rights activists cite noose hangings and other racial incidents to question the government’s commitment to such cases.
Some Washington lawmakers and activists are demanding that the Justice Department focus more attention on hate crimes in light of recent cases such as the kidnapping, torture and beating of a black woman in West Virginia by six white people and the violence that followed the hanging of nooses in a schoolyard tree in Jena, La.Â
Despite high-profile cases, the decline mirrors an overall decrease in hate crime reports, department spokesman Erik Ablin says. At the same time, the department is prosecuting more civil rights cases.
Under federal law, hate crimes are crimes motivated by prejudice based on race, religion or ethnicity.
They are one of three main categories of federal civil rights violations. The others are abuse by police and human trafficking.
Last year, the department charged 22 people with hate crimes. That was down 71% from 76 in 1997.
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The prosecutor in the Megan Williams case says that the evidence does not support hate crime charges. She had been dating one of the accused, Bobby Brewster, who had been charged with aggravated domestic battery against her in the past. This makes it unlikley that she was singled out just because of her race. The prosecutor has asked her to stop granting interviews because the defense will use her interview statements to impeach her testimony.
Lousiana has hate laws, which only apply to acts of violence. Although the members of the Jena Six are accused of using racial slurs during the attack on the white student at Jena High School, the prosecution does not think they singled out the victim simply because he was white. According to witness statements,they were angry because they overheard the victim discussing a fight at a private party that involved one of their members and a 22-year-old white male.