Kamala Harris - For California Attorney General 2010

Hate Crimes and Protecting Victims

  • Organized and led a national conference to confront the "gay-transgender panic defense" that has been used in attempts to justify brutal hate killings, including the tragic deaths of Gwen Araujo and Matthew Shepard.
  • Launched the Youth Anti-Hate Crime Program, training high school students to prevent hate crimes in their schools.
  • Created a specialized Hate Crmes Unit.
  • Recruited a diverse staff to serve victims of violence. The victim outreach staff is now more that 80% people of color and LGBT, speaking Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin, Cambodian, Taiwanese, Vietnamese, French and Italian.
  • Provides crisis intervention and counseling to more than 6,000 victims, witnesses and their families every year.