Attorney General Merrick Garland announced on Tuesday a 30-day review of the Justice Department’s strategy in fighting hate crimes.
Pointing to a “recent rise in hate crimes and hate incidents” against Asian Americans, Garland said in a memo to department staffers that the goal of the expedited review is “to determine how the Department can deploy all the tools at its disposal” to combat hate incidents.
“We must recommit ourselves to this urgent task,” he said.
In the memo, which was reviewed by the Washington Examiner, Garland said the review would look at how the government can do better to “increase and help track the reporting of hate crimes and hate incidents that may violate federal law,” as well as to “prioritize criminal investigations and prosecutions to hold offenders accountable utilize civil enforcement authorities to address unlawful acts of bias that do not rise to the level of hate crimes.”
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Garland, a former judge who was confirmed as President Joe Biden’s attorney general earlier this month, added that the review would seek to “ensure that each U.S. Attorney’s Office has specialized resources appropriately dedicated to identifying and enforcing violations of criminal and civil federal laws that protect against acts of hate.”
Garland began by pointing to the DOJ’s founding. “Established during Reconstruction, in the aftermath of the Civil War, the Department’s first mission was to secure the civil rights promised by the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments,” he said.
He continued, “The recent rise in hate crimes and hate incidents, particularly the disturbing trend in reports of violence against members of the Asian American and Pacific Islander community since the start of the pandemic, requires renewed energy and emphasis on investigation and prosecution, increased community outreach, and the improved collection of data critical to understanding the evolving nature and extent of hate crimes and hate incidents in all their forms.”
Acting Deputy Attorney General John Carlin will lead the review, Garland said, until Deputy Attorney General-appointee Lisa Monaco is confirmed by the Senate.
One study published by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino suggested that hate crimes against Asian Americans increased nearly 150% in 2020.
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A number of violent incidents victimizing Asian Americans have made news in recent weeks, including the beating of a man on a New York City subway. New York police also shared video on Monday of a woman who was repeatedly kicked by a man while lying on the ground.
Of the eight victims in the recent Atlanta-area shooting spree, six were Asian, leading to suspicions that the shooter was motivated by racial hatred, but the suspect denied that was his motivation.
