Prosecutors are more likely to seek bias crime charges in states with a bias crimes law that specifies victim groups, but they don’t press for those charges in a majority of homicide cases where prejudice could be a factor, according to a report released March 11 by the Center for Research on Inclusion and Social Policy (CRISP) at Indiana University.
CRISP analyzed 317 bias homicide cases where evidence suggested the victim was selected because of their social status or identity between 1990 and 2016 and found about 97 percent of cases where prosecutors filed bias charges came in states that had specific statutory protections at the time of the crime.
The report comes at a time when the Indiana General Assembly is considering bias crimes legislation without a list of protected victim groups. In its original form, Senate Bill 12 would have protected individuals and groups targeted for their race, religion, gender identity and other classifications, but the Senate approved an amendment Feb. 19 that stripped away that language. The Senate passed the bill Feb. 21, and it is now in the House of Representatives. Indiana is one of five states without a bias crimes law.
Samantha Buran, one of the report’s authors, said the study is not advocating for or against bias crimes legislation in Indiana and instead shows “how it’s been playing out in other states.” Buran also said having a list of protected groups in bias crimes laws makes data collection more comprehensive.
“[W]hen that list is taken out, the data collection piece is taken out,” which she said makes it so law enforcement reporting is less detailed, and “that’s important if we’re going to begin to understand how effective or ineffective a bias crimes law is.”
The study showed prosecutors were most likely to pursue charges in cases where victims were targeted based on race or ethnicity, with those charges making up about 51 percent of all bias charges filed. That’s despite such crimes making up about 43 percent of all bias crimes analyzed. Overall, prosecutors sought charges in 31 percent of bias homicide cases.
As part of its report, CRISP recommended prosecutors pursue charges equitably among victim groups, since it found a “considerable amount of discretion held by prosecutors.” For example, even though bias crimes based on sexual orientation or gender identity made up about 48 percent of cases, more than any other group, charges were filed in about 35 percent of those cases.
Breanca Merritt, clinical assistant professor in IU’s Public Policy Institute, said answering why prosecutors don’t pursue charges equitably was beyond the scope of the study, but “what we can say is the distribution is not due to chance.”
Contact staff writer Tyler Fenwick at 317-762-7853. Follow him on Twitter @Ty_Fenwick.
