ND Lawmaker Pushing For Tougher Hate Crime Laws

(Bismarck, ND) — A North Dakota lawmaker is pushing for tougher hate crime laws. Representative Mary Schneider is proposing a bill that would require police officers to undergo additional training on identifying and responding to bias crimes. The bill would mandate a bias identification class for every officer in the state every two years. The bill would also strengthen charges in situations where a person injures someone else in a bias crime to aggravated assault. The bill would require police departments to send criminal bias reports to the attorney general’s office.