As announced in a Department of Justice press release, the Office of Justice Programs will award more than $21 million to investigate and prosecute hate crimes and assist hate crime victims. Funding will help state, local and tribal agencies and community organizations address an alarming rise in violent and property crimes committed on the basis of race, color, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or disability.
Through the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Program and the related Collaborative Responses to Hate Crimes program, the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) will award $8.4 million in site-based funding and training and technical assistance.
BJA will also make $1.5 million in site-based awards under the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crimes Reauthorization Act of 2016 to help solve cold case civil rights murders that occurred before December 31, 1979. BJA will award an additional $1.8 million to offer training and technical assistance to other communities seeking to resolve these cases, including making microgrants to the field.
Read the press release to learn more about these and other awards.