Amid jump in some bias crimes, Holder seeks tougher laws

[struggle4progress]

By Larry Margasak and Devlin Barrett

Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Noting recent incidents of "bias-motivated violence," Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said yesterday that new hate-crimes laws were needed to stop what he called "violence masquerading as political activism."

Holder's call for Congress to act came as a civil rights coalition reported a surge in white-supremacist activity since the election of the first black president and another group reported a jump in the number of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people killed in bias attacks.

Immigrants, Hispanics, Muslims, Jews, and Sikhs also were among the targets of bias attacks, according to FBI data cited by the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund.

While the number of hate-crime incidents tallied by the FBI dropped in 2007 - the most recent year for which data are available - by 1 percent, to 7,624, violence against Hispanics and gay people bucked the trend ...

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/world_us/20090617_Amid_jump_in_some_bias_crimes__Holder_seeks_tougher_laws.html