Hate crimes, civil rights violations, and domestic terrorism are the focus of a new U.S. Department of Justice unit in Memphis.
On Monday, United States Attorney Kevin Ritz announced the creation of the new, permanent National Security and Civil Rights Unit. A supervising attorney and several prosecutors will “respond to and prevent hate crimes and civil rights violations, as well as threats to national security.”
“None of us can afford for federal investigators and prosecutors to take a passive role when it comes to protecting the rights guaranteed by the Constitution,” Ritz said in a statement. “We have a responsibility to our communities to be active participants in seeing those rights endure.
“This new unit mobilizes every tool at our disposal to prosecuting hate-based crimes, civil rights violations, violent extremism, and related crimes. This is a major part of our mission and deserves to always have a clear, formal home in our office.”
Ritz picked Assistant United States Attorney Karen Hartridge to lead the unit. The team will expand quickly as leaders plan to hire multiple attorneys for it by the end of summer.
The new unit falls in line with a directive from U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland from May 2021. Garland urged U.S. Attorneys like Ritz to “combat hate crimes and incidents, address them when they occur, support those victimized by them, and reduce the pernicious effects these incidents have on our society,” according to a statement.
FBI data show U.S. hate crimes rose from more than 8,000 in 2020 to nearly 11,000 the following year.
Data from the Tennessee Bureau of Information (TBI) released earlier this year show hate crimes in the state have risen for the last three years. The latest available data show 133 hate crimes were recorded here in 2021, higher than the 122 recorded in 2020, and the 112 hate crimes recorded in 2019.
“Our first job is to send a strong message to the cities and counties we serve that we take these kinds of cases seriously and that we are focused on holding people accountable when there is a report of a violation of civil rights or threat to national security,” Hartridge said in a statement.