                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

REPORTING HATE CRIMES (§ 52-8.5)

A. The Superintendent shall establish and maintain within the Department of
State Police a central repository for the collection and analysis of information
regarding hate crimes and groups and individuals carrying out such acts.

B. State, county, and municipal law-enforcement agencies shall report to the
Department all hate crimes occurring in their jurisdictions in a form, time, and
manner prescribed by the Superintendent. Such reports shall not be open to
public inspection except insofar as the Superintendent shall permit.

C. As used in this section:
			&#8220;Disability&#8221; means a physical or mental impairment that
substantially limits one or more of a person&#8217;s major life
activities.			&#8220;Hate crime&#8221; means (i) a criminal act committed
against a person or his property with the specific intent of instilling fear or
intimidation in the individual against whom the act is perpetrated because of
race, religion, gender, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, or
ethnic or national origin or that is committed for the purpose of restraining
that person from exercising his rights under the Constitution or laws of the
Commonwealth or of the United States; (ii) any illegal act directed against any
persons or their property because of those persons&#8217; race, religion,
gender, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, or ethnic or national
origin; and (iii) all other incidents, as determined by law-enforcement
authorities, intended to intimidate or harass any individual or group because of
race, religion, gender, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, or
ethnic or national origin.

HISTORY: 1988, c. 838; 2002, cc. 588, 623; 2020, cc. 124, 746, 1171.