H.R. 4187 · 119th Congress
Stop Hate Crimes Act of 2025
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D
LieuSponsor8 cosponsors · 8 D
D
Johnson
RK
D
Krishnamoorthi
LM
D
McBath
EN
D
Norton
JP
D
Panetta
NV
D
Velázquez
JH
D
Hayes
SC
D
Carbajal6 signed on when it was introduced; the rest joined later. Cosponsors who withdrew aren't shown.
This bill lowers the standard for establishing that a defendant's conduct constitutes a federal hate crime offense.
What it does: CRS summary · Introduced in House · Jun 26, 2025
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.
Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov
About this bill and sources
Official title: Stop Hate Crimes Act of 2025
Latest action (Jun 26, 2025): Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
Policy area: Crime and Law Enforcement · Origin: House · Introduced: Jun 26, 2025
Official page on Congress.gov · Bill text (GovInfo) · Status record (XML)
No recorded floor vote found.