Assistance program
Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Education, Investigation and Prosecution Program
$34.4 Million committed in FY2022–FY2026
- Agency
- Ojp Bureau of Justice Assistance, Justice, Department of
- Assistance
- Not Applicable
- CFDA number
- 16.040
- What it does
- The goals of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Program are to (1) Support state, local, and tribal law enforcement and prosecution agencies in their efforts to increase reporting of hate crimes and identification of hate crimes and to increase agency capacity to investigate and prosecute hate crimes and (2) Establish a more advanced level of preparedness at state, local, and tribal law enforcement and prosecution agencies for addressing hate crimes. The objectives of Shepard and Byrd Hate Crimes Program are to: • Support comprehensive efforts to prevent and respond to hate crimes that incorporate relevant community stakeholders; • Increase the number of agencies with strategic plans for addressing hate crimes; • Increase the capacity of agencies to identify, report, investigate, and prosecute hate crimes; • Expand the tools available to justice agencies to improve case outcomes for victims and communities impacted by hate crimes; and, • Increase and enhance partnerships between justice agencies, impacted communities, and culturally responsive service organizations. Performance Measure 1: Percentage of potential hate crime arrests that resulted in an indictment (formal charge) or sentence enhancement; Performance Measure 2: Percentage of cases reviewed with Shepard/Byrd Hate Crimes grant funds that were presented to a prosecuting attorney for charging decision; and, Performance Measure 3: Number of victims agreeing to participate in the investigation.
- Who benefits
- Not Applicable
- Who applies
- Site based applications: State, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies. Tribal law enforcement must be from federally recognized Indian tribal governments that perform law enforcement functions (as determined by the Secretary of the Interior). Applicants can partner with other agencies and nonprofit organizations with expertise to support the investigation of these hate crimes and expertise to leverage historical documents to inform investigations. Training and Technical Assistance Provider: For-profit (commercial) organizations, nonprofit organizations (including tribal organizations), faith-based and community organizations, and institutions of higher education (including tribal institutions of higher education) with demonstrated expertise in assisting communities to develop and implement cold case homicide investigations, as well as investigations of hate crimes and civil rights violations.
Committed by fiscal year
* FY2026 is year-to-date — the fiscal year is still in progress, so its total is still filling in. The striped band and dashed line mark that provisional stretch.
Top recipients
By dollars committed.
How to read these numbers
- Committed through this program
Money committed under this assistance listing (its CFDA program), counted in the year each action happened.
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Direct payments