Postcard of the Duluth lynchings of black men on June 15, 1920

A hate crime is when someone breaks a law by hurting another person because of prejudice against a group the victim belongs to. Normally, a hate crime is not caused in any way by something the victim did or said, but just because of who they are. Hate crime is often in the form of physical violence, but can also be vandalism and damage to property, insults or other hurtful words, or other violations of human rights. People often commit hate crime because of prejudice about the victim's sex, ethnicity, religion, nationality, gender identity, class, sexual orientation, age, or other things about them.