Virginia Code

Va. Code Ann. § 52-8.5 (2026)

Reporting hate crimes

✓ current as of May 2026

Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section VA-LISlaw.lis.virginia.gov JustiaTitle on Justia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar

A. The Superintendent shall establish and maintain within the Department of State Police a central repository for the collection and analysis of information regarding hate crimes and groups and individuals carrying out such acts.

B. State, county, and municipal law-enforcement agencies shall report to the Department all hate crimes occurring in their jurisdictions in a form, time, and manner prescribed by the Superintendent. Such reports shall not be open to public inspection except insofar as the Superintendent shall permit.

C. As used in this section:

"Disability" means a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of a person's major life activities.

"Hate crime" means (i) a criminal act committed against a person or his property with the specific intent of instilling fear or intimidation in the individual against whom the act is perpetrated because of race, religion, gender, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, or ethnic or national origin or that is committed for the purpose of restraining that person from exercising his rights under the Constitution or laws of the Commonwealth or of the United States; (ii) any illegal act directed against any persons or their property because of those persons' race, religion, gender, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, or ethnic or national origin; and (iii) all other incidents, as determined by law-enforcement authorities, intended to intimidate or harass any individual or group because of race, religion, gender, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, or ethnic or national origin.

1988, c. 838; 2002, cc. 588, 623; 2020, cc. 124, 746, 1171.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 4 cases (1 in the last 5 years), 1993–2025 · leading case: United States v. Hill, 182 F. Supp. 3d 546 (E.D. Va. 2016).

Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment

United States v. Hill, 182 F. Supp. 3d 546 (E.D. Va. 2016). · cites it 2× “Va. Code Ann. § 52-8.5 (defining hate crimes as criminal or other illegal acts based on “race, religion or national origin”).”

McCauley v. Commonwealth, 435 S.E.2d 891 (Va. Ct. App. 1993). · cites it 2× “We affirm and hold that the stop of appellant for the safety inspection pursuant to Code § 52-8.5 was not a violation of the Fourth Amendment.”

McCauley v. Com., 435 S.E.2d 891 (Va. Ct. App. 1993). · cites it 2× “We affirm and hold that the stop of appellant for the safety inspection pursuant to Code § 52-8.5 was not a violation of the fourth amendment.”

Theerachanon v. Westlake Fin. Servs. (E.D. Va. 2025). · cites it 2× “1, 5 (citing Va. Code Ann § 52-8.5 (defining a hate crime as “a criminal act”)).”

Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.