The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) declined to prosecute 82 percent of people suspected of federal hate crimes over most of the past two decades, it said in a research report on Thursday, revealing a rate of prosecution far lower than that for other federal crimes.
The report illustrates the complexity of the job ahead for Attorney General Merrick Garland as he aims to increase federal prosecutors' focus on hate crimes and improve coordination with local law enforcement and community advocacy groups.
The Bureau of Justice Statistics said prosecutors investigated 1,864 suspects for possible hate crimes from Oct. 1, 2004 - the beginning of the 2005 fiscal year - through Sept. 30, 2019, and referred only 17 percent of those suspects for prosecution. One percent of hate crime suspects had their cases resolved by a magistrate judge.
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