Only months into the new year, and Florida has had several instances of hate crimes in different cities. The two most recent incidents took place in Orlando and in Boca Raton. This article will cover the details of the two cases, along with information on hate crimes in Florida. Case Details Boca Raton A neighborhood in East Boca Raton found …

Acting out in a hateful way towards another person or group of people is not only considered wrong, but it can also go against the law. In Florida, if a crime has been committed in which the defendant clearly acted out against a victim based on specific characteristics, their charges can be reclassified to a more severe charge. However, where …

A family of four has been accused of brutally beating a man nearly to death, and causing him to go almost completely blind. The 31-year-old victim is hiding his identity with the protection of Marsy’s Law, but has decided to press charges six months after the attack. The case is being considered a hate crime by the police, since the …

This past Saturday marked a horrific mass shooting in Buffalo, New York. The suspect was an 18-year-old man who supposedly held racist motives for driving over three hours to open fire on a local supermarket. Disturbing statements from the alleged shooter were supposedly filled with hate, directed specifically towards the Black community. In addition, the shooter had been studying previous …

In October 2021, members of the Florida Hate Crime Coalition traveled to Tallahassee to show their support for Senate Bill 308, a bill that sought to expand hate crime protections in Florida. Its companion bill, House Bill 111, sought similar goals, specifically the addition of gender, gender identity, and physical disability to the hate crime statute. With these proposals dead …

Last week, members of the Florida Hate Crime Coalition gathered at Florida’s Capitol to show their support for SB 308, legislation aimed at expanding protections afforded in Florida’s hate crime law. SB 308, filed by Senator Lori Berman, and its matching house bill, HB 111, filed by Representative Joe Geller, expands grounds for reclassification of offenses to include prejudice based …

The Florida Uniform Crime Reporting Program defines a hate crime as a “committed or attempted criminal act by any person or group of persons against a person or the property of another person or group, which in any way constitutes an expression of hatred toward the victim because of his/her personal characteristics. Personal characteristics include: race/color; gender/gender identity; religion; ethnicity/ancestry/national …

We’ve previously covered the changes made through the FBI’s National Summary Reporting System. The federal government announced nearly a decade ago their plan to transition away from summary reporting to instead focus on specific incident reporting. Now state legislations are following suit, including Florida. Florida has adopted a new method of crime reporting under The Florida Incident-Based Reporting System (FIBRS), …

During his visit to the Museum of Tolerance in Israel, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a law to prohibit the concerning rise of antisemitism in Florida. HB 269 is titled “Public Nuisances,” and creates both a misdemeanor and felony charge for those who attempt to harass individuals based on their ethnicity or religion. While HB 269 passed unanimously throughout Florida …