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It is widely believed that since the mid- 1980s the United States has been experiencing a hate crime epidemic. This belief has been expressed over and over again by politicians, journalists, scholars, and spokespersons for racial, religious, gay and lesbian, and other advocacy groups. Leo McCarthy, lieutenant governor of California, declared that "there is an epidemic of hate crimes and hate violence rising in California"; Mississippi State Senator Bill Minor warned, "this is the type of crime that easily spreads like an epidemic." The District Attorney for St. Paul, Minnesota claimed that state and local governments faced a "massive increase in hate crimes." A journalist for the San Francisco Chronicle wrote that "hate-motivated violence is spreading across the United States in 'epidemic' proportions." Dr. Arthur Caliandro, co-chair of the religious group, Partnership of Faith, termed hate crimes "a virus that has turned into a disease that has grown into an epidemic." A New York Times journalist characterized the incidence of hate crime as "raining down hard and heavy," and as "a recent explosion." The Boston Globe claimed that "incidents of racial and religious harassment or intimidation have skyrocketed." An article in the National Law Journal characterized the 1990s as "the decade of hate--or at least, of hate crime."

Spokespersons for gays and lesbians have been among the most vocal proponents of the hate crime epidemic theory. Kevin Berrill, Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF), explained that "the problem of bias crime is alarmingly pervasive. The real message is not whether the numbers are up or down, but rather that we have an epidemic on our hands, one that is in dire need of a remedy." Upon release of its 1993 survey report showing that violence against gays and lesbians had decreased by 14 percent in the six cities surveyed, a NGLTF spokesperson stated, "all the anecdotal evidence tells us this is still an out-of-control epidemic." Despite the apparent good news indicated by the declining numbers, NGLTF spokesperson Tanya L. Domi told a U.S. House of Representatives Committee that "anti-gay violence clearly remains at epidemic proportions." Robert Bray, another NGLTF spokesperson, stated that "the gay community is under siege in this country. We are fighting an epidemic of violence." Mchael Petrelli, a spokesperson for Gay and Lesbian Americans, has made similar statements: "Any time there's a murder of a gay or lesbian person, I am concerned because our group . . . believes there is an epidemic of this kind of antigay violence."

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has been lobbying for hate crime legislation and data collection longer than any other advocacy group. Since 1979, the ADL has compiled and published an Annual Audit" of "overt acts or expressions of anti-Jewish bigotry or hostility (an incident may be included in the Audit regardless of whether the police label it bias-motivated).  According to the ADL, "the pervasiveness of bias-motivated criminal conduct in a country conceived as a bastion of freedom is both tragic and ironic. All indications are that such crimes are on the rise."

In compiling its data, the ADL relies upon victim and community group reports, newspaper articles, and local law enforcement agencies' information. Individuals and community groups who believe they have been the victims of an anti-Semitic incident fill out a standard ADL form which the ADL attempts to verify by reviewing police reports, interviewing witnesses, or examining the property damage or vandalism. If the incident is a noncriminal event, like the mailing of literature or an anti-Semitic message left on an answering machine, the ADL will examine the literature or listen to the recorded message to determine whether it meets the Audit's definition of harassment. . .

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