Incidents of bias, discrimination, or hate crimes committed against Asian Americans Pacific Islanders (AAPI) have been on the rise during this COVID-19 pandemic.
Under New York’s Hate Crime Law (Penal Law Article 485), a person commits a hate crime when “one of a specified set of offenses is committed targeting a victim because of a perception or belief about their race, color, national origin, ancestry, gender, religion, religious practice, age, disability or sexual orientation”, or when such “an act is committed as a result of that type of perception or belief.” They can target an individual, a group of individuals or public or private property. These crimes are narrowly defined and must be proved “beyond a reasonable doubt.”
“Hate violence” or “bias-related incidents” can range from verbal harassment, phone or e-mail harassment, property damage, threats of assault, actual assault, and killings.
If immediate help is needed, call 911 to report an incident of hate/bias crime.
Non-emergencies should be reported to the local police precinct. To find your local precinct, visit https://www1.nyc.gov/site/nypd/bureaus/patrol/find-your-precinct.page
Incidents of bias, discrimination, or hate crimes can also be reported to:
State-wide
- Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council (A3PCON) On-line Reporting Center
http://www.asianpacificpolicyandplanningcouncil.org/stop-aapi-hate/
- Governor's Hate Crime Reporting Hotline
NYS - Hate Crime Task Force - NYS Division of Human Rights Bias Incident Hotline
Call 1-888-392-3644 or Text “HATE” to 81336
For more information, email https://www.ny.gov/programs/hate-crimes-task-force
- New York State Attorney Civil Rights Bureau
Call 1-800-771-7755 For more information, email civil.rights@ag.ny.gov
Other Governmental Authorities
New York State Division of Human Rights: For information on legal rights and protections under the New York State Human Rights Law, see https://dhr.ny.gov/coronavirus-discrimination
New York City
- New York City Police Department Hate Crime Task Force:
Call 646-610-5267; 1-888-440-HATE
Email: hctf@nypd.org
- New York City Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes (OPHC)
https://criminaljustice.cityofnewyork.us/programs/ophc/
- New York City Human Rights Commission: 718-722-3131
To report discrimination that may be prohibited under the New York City Human Rights Law, you may make a complaint with eth City Commission on Human Rights. To learn how to file a complaint, go to https://www1.nyc.gov/site/cchr/help/i-need-help.page
- Bronx County District Attorney’s Office
Crime Victims Assistance Unit: 718-590-2114
Immigrant Affairs Unit Hotline: 844-590-7226
- Brooklyn (Kings Country) District Attorney’s Office
Victim Services Unit: 718-250-3820
Hate Crimes: 718-250-4949
Immigrant Fraud Unit Hotline: 718-250-3333
- New York County (Manhattan) District Attorney’s Office
Hate Crimes 212-335-3100 (main number) 212-335-9500 (TTY)
Immigrant Affairs Unit Hotline: 212-335-3600
Visit http://manhattanda.org/resources-victims-or-witnesses-hate-crimes
- Queens County District Attorney’s Office
Immigrant Affairs Hotline: 718-286-6690
Main Office: 718-286-6000
- Richmond County's (Staten Island) District Attorney's Office: 718-876-6300
- New York City Public Advocate: 212-669-7250
Outside of New York City
- Nassau County District Attorney’s Office
Office of Immigrant Affairs: 516-571-7756
For additional resources for victims of hate crimes, please visit: https://www1.nyc.gov/site/stophate/resources/city-council-hate-violence-prevention-initiative.page
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Please read: The information provided on this website does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice. Instead, all information, content, and materials available on this site are for general informational purposes only. Due to the rapidly evolving nature of the COVID-19 crisis, readers are advised to check official government sources for the most up-to-date information on changes in policy and procedure since the information on this website may not constitute the most up-to-date legal or other information. This website contains links to other third-party websites. Such links are only for the convenience of the reader and the contents of any third-party sites are not an endorsement by AABANY or its members.
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