New York is adding 23 offenses to its existing list of hate crimes in a move intended to help victims of violent acts that were motivated by bias or prejudice.
The added offenses were included in a modified bill that is one of several pieces of legislation attached to the state budget, which Gov. Kathy Hochul and lawmakers in Albany approved on Saturday. Officials said the modified Hate Crime Modernization Act was the first update to the legislation in 24 years.
“This amendment will make us more prepared to recognize and address hate crimes when they occur,” Assembymember Grace Lee, who co-sponsored the measure, told Gothamist on Sunday. “And it’ll empower – and validate – hate crime victims and their experiences.”
Reports of targeted attacks against nearly every racial and ethnic group – as well as other marginalized communities – have significantly increased since the state’s passage of its Hate Crimes Act in 2000, officials said. But the legislation previously only listed 66 criminal offenses that could also be charged as hate crimes.
This meant the hate crime legislation’s language has at times been ineffective in certain instances involving violent actions that are prohibited under law – but weren’t technically classified as hate crimes, like certain gang activity, choking and child sex trafficking, lawmakers argued.
Lee, who represents parts of Lower Manhattan, said that the issue particularly struck her as an Asian-American woman, noting the rise of anti-Asian hate both across the U.S., and in New York City. More than half of Asian New Yorkers have experienced some form of hate, including harassment and physical violence, according to a report published last year.
“Hate crimes can have incredibly chilling effects on communities,” Lee said. “When a hate crime is committed against an individual, it has a ripple effect across a community and their ability to feel safe because they are being attacked for their identity.”
It’s an issue that Lee said she and state Sen. Brad Holyman-Sigal sought to change when they introduced legislation that would add dozens of offenses to the state’s hate crime legislation last year. And while Gov. Kathy Hochul said she backed the measure, others in Albany squabbled over this proposed bill – which called for including 31 new charges, such as graffiti, as hate crimes.
But the Hate Crimes Modernization Act found its footing as a modified version that is now included in the state’s recently passed budget for the fiscal year, which began on April 1.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg – who assisted Lee and Holyman-Sigal with the original bill – said he considers its adoption to be “a significant step forward,” even if just 23 of the proposed 31 offenses became new additions to the state’s list of crimes.
“This is the legislative process,” he said. “To have 23 predicate crimes in the hate crime statute – that’s going to help us in charging the number of cases, that’s going to give voice to the underlying motivation in certain swaths of offenses that here before weren’t.”
Hochul’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment by Gothamist.
A full list of the new offenses added to the state’s existing hate crime legislation can be found in the executive budget. In addition to the expanded list of hate crimes, the state’s executive budget also includes an increase of $10 million in funding for the Securing Communities Against Hate Crimes program, bringing its total to $35 million. SCAHC programs provide grant funding for certain organizations that are particularly susceptible to hate crimes.
This story has been updated to include comment from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.