USCCR Illinois Hate Crimes against Religious Institutions Project: Information Gathered to Date Presenters: Cynthia Shawamreh Co-Chair of the Subcommittee on Hate Crimes and Discrimination against Religious Institutions for the Illinois Advisory Committee of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights His Grace Bishop Demetrios of Mokissos Member of the Illinois State Advisory Committee of the United States Commission on Civil Rights Member Law Students University of Chicago Law School International Law Program The Breakout Session II: USCCR Illinois Hate Crimes against Religious Institutions Project: Information Gathered to Date was facilitated by Cynthia Shawamreh, Co-Chair of the Subcommittee on Hate Crimes and Discrimination against Religious Institutions for the Illinois Advisory Committee of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. The breakout session opened with a historical overview of religious hatred, intolerance, and discrimination, and civil rights of individuals, as presented by His Grace Bishop Demetrios of Mokissos, Member of the Illinois State Advisory Committee of the United States Commission on Civil Rights Member. His Grace noted that on multiple continents, Christians are currently suffering hatred, intolerance, and discrimination. Sectarian violence dates back centuries; and, religious and ethnic conflicts are commonly blurred. For example, historically, the Ku Klux Klan hate group was religiously intolerant, as well as racist. His Grace reflected that in the past, criminal acts motivated by a victim’s faith were regarded as shocking events that were rare, or rarely obvious. However, the catalyst of September 11, 2001 has produced the ugliest bias, prejudice, and hatred based on the identified or misidentified, religion of victims. There is concern that a new type of intolerance has begun to present itself, which is referred to as the “intolerance of the tolerant.” The audience was forewarned that the increased polarization and lack of civility and civil discourse in society does not help counter hate, intolerance, or discrimination. His Grace wrapped up by explaining that one’s right to exercise faith freely is essential to one’s right to exist, and religious rights are a necessity to the personal and communal existence.
Shawamreh and University of Chicago Law School students continued the breakout session by providing the audience with highlights from the Subcommittees’ supervised student research, through the University of Chicago Law School International Law Program, on reporting of hate crimes in the state of Illinois to the Illinois State Police (ISP) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Highlights of the research findings include:
The FBI and ISP hate crime data do not match;
The FBI’s total number of hate crime offenses are less than the ISP’s total number of hate crime offenses;
The FBI’s and ISP’s categories of crimes do not match [e.g. ISP’s “criminal sexual assault” category is the FBI’s “rape” category], and the ISP has four additional crime categories (criminal trespass, disorderly conduct, harassment, and mob action);
The FBI’s and ISP’s reporting deadlines are not aligned;
Since 2010, 200 or more law enforcement agencies in the state of Illinois have not reported hate crime data;
Known hate group activists received funding and conducted training for law enforcement on reporting hate crimes.
Shawamreh also shared information on the Subcommittee’s recent public hearing on the law and policy regarding hate crimes and discrimination against religious institutions in the state of Illinois. The hearing addressed data discrepancy and law enforcement; data deficit and chronic underreporting; trend analysis and policy; and, special concerns regarding religiously-motivated hate crimes and discrimination against religious institutions, including zoning issues. Concerning data discrepancy, it was determined that the FBI gets its data from the ISP, so the FBI’s and ISP’s data should be the same. Three possible reasons for the discrepancies between FBI and ISP hate crime data were identified: differences in crime categories; differences in definitions of crimes; and/or, differences in reporting applications. However, upon closer examination, it was found that these reasons might not fully account for the data discrepancies.
The Subcommittee is in the process of finalizing several working-draft recommendations for improving the hate crime laws and/or related data collection. Thus far, the working-draft recommendations include: Establish an interagency task force for reporting data;
Standardize the law enforcement assessment and training for reporting hate crimes;
Increase victim advocacy and support services;
Expand community outreach and rights education;
Develop model program for analyzing hate crime data trends;
Develop procurement process for training, etc., that includes what has to be vetted;
Establish, fully implement, and monitor training of municipalities and zoning boards on the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA); and,
Advocate for the Illinois General Assembly and Governor of Illinois to make the necessary appointments to the state of Governor’s Commission on Discrimination and Hate Crimes.
Breakout Description Hate Crimes and Discrimination Against Religious Institutions Breakout Session II Fort Dearborn Room 1:30 to 2:45 Illinois Advisory Committee of the US Commission on Civil Rights, Subcommittee on Hate Crimes and Discrimination Against Religious Institutions Title: US Commission on Civil Rights Illinois Hate Crimes Against Religious Institutions Project: Information Gathered to Date Description: The Subcommittee has supervised academic research through the University of Chicago Law School on current law governing hate crimes and related data collection in the State of Illinois and held a public hearing on August 21, 2014 at the Metcalf Federal Building. In this breakout session we share what we have learned to date regarding the following topics: 1) Data discrepancy across sources. The FBI data collected for Illinois between 2008 and 2011 does not appear to match the State of Illinois data for the same period. University data collection does not seem to match law enforcement data. Community organizations have very different statistics than official sources. 2) Data deficit. National NGO research shows the widespread underreporting of hate crimes, theorizes why this is so and proposes ways to facilitate more accurate reporting. These proposals must be evaluated in the Illinois context. 3) Trend analysis. Analysis of the data can yield insights on trends over time for hate crimes in Illinois, including a) overall increases or decreases in reported hate crimes, b) distribution of reported crimes by location, and c) distribution of reported crimes by demographic category of protected class or intersecting classes. 4) Special concerns presented by religiously-motivated hate crimes and discrimination against religious institutions, including violence, vandalism and zoning discrimination.
Learning Objectives and Audience: The learning objectives include increasing awareness of and reducing the barriers to effective data collection and analysis of hate crimes, which can inform responsive policy. Data collection and analysis is a vital tool for policy makers considering how to better prevent hate crimes and discrimination against religious institutions. This Breakout Session targets information sharing among audience stakeholders, including policy makers, law enforcement officials, academics, community organizations and other Summit participants. Proposed Panelists and Speakers: Barbara Abrajano, His Grace Bishop Demetrios of Mokissos, Cynthia Shawamreh, Rick Garcia
