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Abstract: 

In mid-November 2010, a federal grand jury indicted three white New Mexico men on hate crime charges stemming from their attack on a Navajo man who is developmentally disabled. The attack by the three McDonald’s co-workers included branding a swastika with a heated wire coat hanger on the man’s arm, and other gruesome details Taking advantage of the man’s cognitive disability, they persuaded him to make a video in which he “asked” to be branded so their assault would appear consensual. Besides the brutality of the crime itself, the case made national news, because it was believed to be the first time a new section of the federal hate crimes law had been used. The new law, also known as the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, was signed into law by President Obama on October 28, 2009. It amended the1969 Federal Hate Crimes Law. The article discusses the viewing of the attacks on the disabled as hate crimes in America, which has lagged behind other countries in this respect.

Keywords: Hate crime on disabled in New Mexico; Matthew Shepard James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act; New York prosecutions of hate crimes against disabled

Affiliations:  1: FORGE.