FY24 Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Program

New Jersey is a richly diverse state that is home to over 9.3 million residents, including many new immigrants, people of color, and vibrant cultural communities. Unfortunately, consistent with national trends, incidents of bias and hate remain on the rise. The most recent reporting shows that 2021 and 2022 had the highest number of reported bias incidents since the state began recording them in 1994. In 2022, New Jersey law enforcement reported 2,211 bias incidents, which resulted in a total of 146 arrests.

Attorney General Matthew Platkin has made combating bias and hate a top priority, encouraging the use of every tool and resource available to do so. The Department of Law and Public Safety continues to work tirelessly to address the steady rise in reported bias incidents through criminal prosecution, civil enforcement, education, training, outreach, and prevention efforts.

Funding from this grant will be used for a three-pronged approach to addressing bias and hate crimes within our state. First, a marketing campaign to encourage public reporting of bias incidents; second, a community outreach and education campaign to combat bias and hate; and third, the purchase and installation of automatic license plate readers to be used to support efforts to prevent and investigate tool in bias crime incidents.