H.R. 4187: Stop Hate Crimes Act of 2025

The Stop Hate Crimes Act of 2025 aims to amend the federal hate crime law to clarify how motivation is determined in hate crime cases. Specifically, it makes adjustments to the language used in the law regarding what must be proven to establish that a crime is a hate crime. Here are the key changes the bill proposes:

1. Changes to Language

• The bill proposes to change the phrase "because of" to "if" in the context of proving motivation for committing a hate crime.
• It requires that a discriminatory motive, such as race, religion, sexual orientation, or disability, was a "contributory motivating factor" in causing or attempting to cause injury.

2. Causation in Hate Crimes

The amendment specifically affects how causation is interpreted in two main paragraphs of the law:

• In the first paragraph, this change clarifies that the hate motivation must be shown as a contributing factor in the action that caused harm.
• The second paragraph similarly emphasizes that a stated motivation, such as a person's disability, must also be established as a contributing factor in the injury or attempted injury.

Overall, the bill seeks to provide a clearer legal framework for establishing the motivations behind hate crimes, potentially affecting how such cases are prosecuted at the federal level.

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