ABSTRACT
… Our review of hate crime law leads to two interrelated questions about hate crime law as a policy response to discriminatory violence and its relationship to select minority groups. First, to what degree have lawmakers recognized some minority populations and not others, as potential and actual victims of bias-motivated conduct? Second, upon what basis should particular constituencies be considered for inclusion in hate crime law? To address these interrelated questions, we focus on the case of “mental and physical disabilities” as a status provision and “persons with disabilities” as a target population. 36 Although our focus on disabilities and persons with disabilities is primarily for analytic purposes, there are at least three good reasons for choosing this particular example.
