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UPDATE: On October 28, President Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act into law.

Today, the Senate gave final congressional approval 68-29 to the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which expands the definition of federal hate crimes and removes unnecessary obstacles to federal prosecution.

With President Obama likely to sign the Act into law soon, civil rights groups are celebrating a historic achievement following more than a decade of advocacy.

"We applaud lawmakers for recognizing the fundamental right of all Americans to be protected from violence because of their race, the way they worship, their sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability status. Congress' decision to pass this bill sends a clear message to these victims of violence and their families – individuals like Stephen Tyrone Johns of Washington, D.C., Sean Kennedy of South Carolina, Angie Zapata of Colorado, Luis Ramirez of Pennsylvania, and Matthew Shepard of Wyoming – that we value every American's basic civil and human right to be safe and free from physical harm," Wade Henderson, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, said.

The House of Representatives today passed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which expands the definition of federal hate crimes and removes unnecessary obstacles to federal prosecution.

Currently, the Department of Justice can only investigate hate crimes motivated by the victim's race, color, religion, and national origin when the victim is engaged in a federally protected activity, such as serving on a jury. The House-approved bill authorizes the federal government to investigate and prosecute bias-motivated crimes based on the victim's actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or disability. 

The bill also gives the federal government jurisdiction over prosecuting hate crimes in states where the current law is inadequate or when local authorities are unwilling or do not have the resources to do so themselves. Local authorities would also receive additional resources to combat hate crimes.

Though the House of Representatives passed the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act three months ago, the Senate has yet to take action on the bill.

Last week, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder told the Senate Judiciary Committee that the Obama administration strongly supported the bill, stating,  "The President and I seek swift passage of this legislation because hate crimes victimize not only individuals, but entire communities."

Michael Lieberman,  Washington counsel for the Anti-Defamation League and co-chair of LCCR's hate crimes task force testified to the escalating problem of hate crimes in the U.S., citing recent FBI statistics and LCCREF's recent report, "Confronting the New Faces of Hate: Hate Crimes in America."

"Failure to address this unique type of crime could cause an isolated incident to explode into widespread community tension. The damage done by hate crimes, therefore, cannot be measured solely in terms of physical injury or dollars and cents. By making members of minority communities fearful, angry, and suspicious of other groups – and of the power structure that is supposed to protect them – these incidents can damage the fabric of our society and fragment communities," said Lieberman.

Today, a Pennsylvania judged sentenced the two teenagers convicted of simple assault for their role in the July 2008 fatal beating of Luiz Ramirez, a 25 year-old Mexican immigrant, to prison for up to 23 months.

"The meager sentences handed to the defendants today leaves justice gasping for further redress. The failure to hold these defendants responsible for their atrocious crimes denies justice not just to the Ramirez family, but also to the entire community by failing to deter similar crimes in the future," said Gladys Limón, staff attorney with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

In May, a jury acquitted the two teenagers of more serious charges, including aggravated assault, third degree murder and ethnic intimidation, the Pennsylvania hate crimes law.  The acquittal on these charges sparked outrage from the civil rights community who pointed to numerous reports that the attack was racially motivated.

The Justice Department is currently investigating whether to prosecute the two teenagers under federal civil rights statutes.

At a June 5 U.S. government-sponsored human rights panel discussion in Geneva, Switzerland, Wade Henderson, president and CEO of LCCR, called for the adoption of more effective hate crime laws in the United States. In his remarks, Henderson noted that in the U.S. "the number of hate crimes reported has consistently ranged around 7,500 or more annually—that's nearly one every hour of every day."

The number of hate crimes "committed against Hispanics and those perceived to be immigrants has increased each of the past four years for which FBI data is available" and violence against individuals "because of their sexual orientation has increased to its highest level in five years," according to Henderson.  With the well-documented rise in hate crime violence in Europe, especially in the former Soviet Union countries, Henderson argued, the U.S. could demonstrate international leadership by tackling the spread of hate crimes at home.

LCCR supports the passage of the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which would give the federal government jurisdiction over prosecuting hate crimes in states where the current law is inadequate. It would also facilitate federal investigations and prosecutions when local authorities are unwilling or do not have the resources to do so themselves.  The bill passed in the House of Representatives in April, but the Senate has yet to vote on it.

Henderson's impassioned plea for stronger hate crime laws came just five days before James W. von Brunn, a white supremacist and prolific writer of anti-Semitic materials, opened fire at the Holocaust museum in Washington, D.C., killing Stephen T. Johns, an African-American museum guard.