Stop Hate Crimes Act of 2025

This bill updates the federal hate crime law to make the cause of a hate crime clearer. It changes a few key lines so that, instead of saying a crime happened “because of” a victim’s protected trait, it uses the word “if.” The goal is to clarify what the government must show in court when charging someone with a federal hate crime.

Key points:

• Who is affected: People investigated or charged under federal hate crime laws, and communities targeted by bias-motivated crimes.
• What changes: The law’s wording in 18 U.S.C. 249(a)(1) and (2)(A) would change from “because of” to “if,” to clarify the causation element in hate crime cases.