Crimes law

Sexual orientation and gender identity are the largest share of reported hate crimes in the District of Columbia and they are up in 2017 compared to 2016, according to data compiled by the Metropolitan Police Department.

The analysis looked at 43 defendants arrested by D.C. police between 2016 and 2018 for suspected hate crimes based on sexual orientation and gender identity and sought the outcome of the cases.

(Links to an external site.)

None of the 43 defendants have been successfully prosecuted under the District’s hate crimes law, which allows a sentencing enhancement of 1.5 times the punishment for the underlying crime. The data also show that just 16 percent of those defendants ended up being charged by prosecutors for a hate crime.

https://www.fox5dc.com/news/exclusive-nearly-half-of-lgbt-hate-crime-arrests-in-dc-end-up-being-dismissed-during-prosecution

Forty-nine percent of the cases were dismissed, either by pre-trial diversion or because the United States Attorney’s Office dropped the charges.

LGBT rights advocate and Casa Ruby founder Ruby Corado called FOX 5’s findings disappointing.