§ 42-28-46. Development of system monitoring crimes motivated by bigotry and bias.
(a) For the purposes of this section, the following words shall have the following meanings:
(1) "Hate crime� means any crime motivated by bigotry and bias, including, but not limited
to threatened, attempted, or completed acts that appear after investigation to have
been motivated by racial, religious, ethnic, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity
or expression, or disability prejudice or motivated by prejudice against a person
who is homeless or is perceived to be homeless. For the purposes of this chapter,
the definitions of disability, sexual orientation, and gender identity or expression
shall be defined as set forth in § 11-24-2.1.
(2) "Hate crime data� means information, incident reports, records, and statistics relating
to hate crimes, collected by the state police unit pursuant to this section.
(3) "Incident report� means account of any individual occurrence of hate crime received
or collected by the crime reporting unit pursuant to this section.
(4) "Police department� means all state, municipal, and campus police departments within
the state of Rhode Island.
(b) The state police shall, by January 1, 1994, develop a system monitoring the occurrence
of crimes committed in the state which the evidence of the offense demonstrates was
motivated by racial, religious, ethnic bigotry, or bias on any other matter defined
as a "hate crime� herein. All police departments within the state shall report monthly
the occurrence of such crimes to the state police. The state police shall maintain
a permanent record of these offenses categorized by community of occurrence, type
of offense, target of offense, and such other information as the department deems
relevant. The department shall develop a plan for the collection, analysis, and dissemination
of the data regarding such crimes and shall promulgate regulations relating to the
collection of hate crime data, as defined in this section, which are submitted by
law enforcement agencies, individuals, state and local human rights commissions, and
anti-discrimination advocacy organizations.
(c) The state police shall compile and distribute to each police department a listing
of all criminal offenses and penalties for those actions defined as "hate crimes�
herein. Notice of the provision of these sections shall be primarily posted at each
police station.
(d) This section shall not be construed to increase or enhance the penalties against the
perpetrators of hate crimes as defined in this section, unless provided for by any
other section of law.