HR 4187 ยท Stop Hate Crimes Act of 2025
Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
- Introduced
- Jun 26, 2025
- Latest action
- Jun 26, 2025
- Sponsor
- Rep. Ted Lieu [D-CA-36]
- Policy area
- Crime and Law Enforcement
- Cosponsors
- 7
Summary
Stop Hate Crimes Act of 2025 This bill lowers the standard for establishing that a defendant's conduct constitutes a federal hate crime offense. Currently, federal law prohibits willfully causing bodily injury or using a dangerous weapon to attempt to do so because of the actual or perceived protected characteristic (e.g., race or religion) of any person. In a prosecution for a hate crime offense, the government must establish that the defendant committed prohibited conduct because of a specific protected characteristic. The phrase because of is not defined. However, since 2014, courts have generally held that because of relates to causation and requires the government to establish but-for causation. For example, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held in United States v. Miller that in a prosecution for a hate crime offense, the phrase because of required the government to establish that but for the religion of the victims, the defendants would not have committed the assaults. This bill replaces the because of standard, which relates to causation, with a new standard related to motive. Under the new standard, willfully causing bodily injury or using a dangerous weapon to attempt to do so is a hate crime offense if the actual or perceived protected characteristic of any person is a contributory motivating factor in the offense.
Recent actions
- Jun 26, 2025 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
- Jun 26, 2025 Introduced in House
- Jun 26, 2025 Introduced in House
Votes
No recorded votes are available for this bill.