The Indiana Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights released its “Rethinking Hate Crime Policy in Indiana” report this week, which says the state must take stronger and more coordinated action to address hate crimes.
“Our report analyzes the current hate crime statute and offers recommendations to strengthen the law to better protect and serve Hoosiers,” Committee Chair Diane Clements-Boyd said in a news release. “The report provides constructive steps to improve hate crime policy in Indiana, and consequently, an environment that is just and equitable for everyone.”
According to the report, the committee, which is made up of 11 members, found that Indiana’s 2019 hate crime law is rarely invoked. The law allows a judge to increase sentences if the offender’s biases motivated the crime.
The law, which was passed in 2019, has been criticized for its vague language and omitting protections based on age, sex and gender identity, according to the report, and panelists believe that law enforcement “often declines to pursue cases that do not clearly meet the statutory criminal threshold, particularly when bias is subtle, contextual or difficult to prove.”
The panel also found a lack of enforcement, accountability and incentive to report hate crimes from law enforcement agencies and universities, according to the report. The report claims that 64 of 476 law enforcement agencies voluntarily reported hate crimes to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Annual Bias Crime report in 2022.
The FBI considers a hate crime to be those committed with biases based on disabilities, gender, gender identity, race, ethnicity, religion and sexual orientation, according to the agency’s Crime Data Explorer.
From November 2020 to November 2025, the FBI reported 923 hate crime offenses in Indiana, and the majority are race-based, specifically anti-Black crime.
In 2024, a Whiting man was sentenced to 10 months in federal prison for a “campaign of hate” he launched against an interracial family who lived next door — and their landlord — until they moved out, according to Post-Tribune archives. Starting in June 2022, filings show Brian O’Neill, 46, yelled racial slurs at the family, shattered windows in their house and vehicle, defaced their car, and threatened to rape them.
The report also found that hate crimes motivated by bias against gender identity are not covered in Indiana’s hate crime law, even though it’s included in the FBI definition of a hate crime.
Clements-Boyd was unable to immediately respond to a request for comment about the hate crime report, including if the committee is concerned the state might not take recommendations because of anti-diversity, equity and inclusion actions taken when President Donald Trump came into office.
“Advisory Committees’ function is advisory only and their work products focus on relevant civil rights concerns that may continue through several legislative cycles and administrations,” Ana Victoria Fortes, designated federal officer for the project, said in an email. “Advisory committees select a topic that is the most salient civil rights topic relevant to their jurisdiction. The Committee points to several triggering events that occurred a couple years prior in their report that highlight the severity of bias-related events.”
In its report, the advisory committee had several recommendations for the U.S. Congress, the Department of Justice, the Indiana General Assembly, and local city and county governments.
The committee asks Congress to pass legislation that would ensure incidents where hate is a contributing factor are recognized as hate crimes, and it asks the DOJ to prioritize enforcement and prosecutions of alleged federal hate crime statute violations.
The advisory committee has two recommendations for the state legislature, including amending the hate crime law to “list protected classes and include sex, gender, identity, and age as protected classes; expand the list of specified offenses; and give more evidentiary guidance empowering prosecutors where hate crime is involved.” The committee would also like the Indiana General Assembly to mandate and fund hate crime training for law enforcement.
In local governments, the committee asks officials to coordinate with local human rights councils and community organizations to prevent hate crimes, and to establish a coordinated hate crime and bias response, and also designate an office or person of primary responsibility, according to the report.
Advisory committees serve a four-year term, and the committee is asked to produce at least one report during that time, Fortes said in an email. The committee voted on the project proposal on May 15, 2023, Fortes said, and selected and voted on panelists until early spring 2024.
The committee heard seven briefings with expert testimonies from June to November 2024, and report writing began in May 2025. The report was released on Monday.
“Because the Committee’s four-year term expired on (Nov.) 18, 2025, there are no immediate next steps for this Committee,” Fortes said in her email. “Following the release of the report, the entities named in the recommendations section will be sent a letter from Chair (Rochelle) Garza of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights asking for those entities to review the Committee’s report and consider implementing any of the noted recommendations. The letter should be circulated in early 2026.”
