CLE at the Virginia Holocaust Museum: Hate Crime Legislation and Prosecution in Virginia

“History teaches us that intolerance, unchecked, leads to persecution and violence,” said a statement co-authored by members of the Association of Holocaust Organizations in response to a surge of hate crimes in 2016.

The FBI has defined a hate crime as “a criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity.” Hate crime laws are essentially “penalty enhancement” tools for prosecutors, with statutes allowing state and federal prosecutors to charge a defendant with an added penalty and thereby seek harsher sentences.

Associate Provost and Professor Kami N. Chavis of Wake Forest University School of Law will discuss the language of Virginia hate crime laws and will compare how hate crimes are prosecuted in Virginia, other states, and federally. Professor Chavis, a former Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia who specializes in federal hate crime legislation and enforcement, will also explore whether hate crimes are on the rise, barriers to prosecution, and solutions to overcoming those limitations.

After the seminar, join us for a dinner (at no additional cost) sponsored by the Nuremberg Courtroom Committee of the Virginia Holocaust Museum and the Virginia Law Foundation, with generous support from VLF Fellow Jay Weinberg and his wife, Marilyn.

The evening will conclude with a Rule of Law Awards Program that honors individuals whose lives and work emulate the highest ideals enshrined in the principles of the Nuremberg Military Tribunal and later the International Court of Justice. This year, attorney and best-selling author John Grisham will receive the Rule of Law Award. The Civility in Law Award will be given posthumously to David P. Bobzien, past president of the Virginia State Bar and the Virginia Law Foundation.

Guests not seeking CLE credit are welcome free of charge,
but must pre-register by emailing Tanya Morris at tmorris@vacle.org.

COURSE SCHEDULE

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Kami N. Chavis, Associate Provost for Academic Initiatives, Professor of Law and Director of the Criminal Justice Program at Wake Forest University School of Law / Winston-Salem, NC 

Kami Chavis is a Professor of Law and Director of the Criminal Justice Program at Wake Forest University School of Law. In 2015, she was appointed as a Senior Academic Fellow at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. She has substantial practice experience and writes and teaches in areas related to criminal law, criminal procedure, and criminal justice reform. After receiving her J.D. from Harvard Law School, she worked as an associate at private law firms in Washington, DC, where she participated in various aspects of civil litigation, white-collar criminal defense, and internal investigations. In 2003, she became an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, involving her in a wide range of criminal prosecutions and in arguing and briefing appeals before the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. Professor Chavis frequently makes presentations on law-enforcement issues and is a leader in the field of police accountability. Her articles have appeared in the American Criminal Law Review, the Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law, the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, the University of Alabama Law Review, the Catholic University Law Review, and other legal journals. Her research focuses on using Cooperative Federalism principles and stakeholder participation to implement sustainable reforms in the criminal justice system. She writes in the areas of police and prosecutorial accountability, federal hate crimes legislation and enforcement, and racial profiling. She was elected to the American Law Institute in 2012.

Ms. Chavis is a frequent contributor to national and international media outlets and has appeared on CNN, CTV, and NPR. She has written for the New York Times and the Huffington Post, and has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, BBC News, U.S. News and World Report, International Business Times, Deutsche Welle, and other outlets regarding police accountability and the structural reform of law enforcement agencies.

LIVE REGISTRATION FEE

$80 regular registration (includes the seminar, printed materials, and dinner).

Guests not seeking CLE credit are welcome free of charge, but must pre-register by emailing Tanya Morris at tmorris@vacle.org.

LIVE LOCATION AND DATE

RICHMOND / Thursday, October 10
Virginia Holocaust Museum (Venue Website / Google Map)
2000 E. Cary Street
(804) 257-5400

Cancellation/transfer requests will be honored through 5:00 p.m. of the DAY BEFORE the seminar. 

If you have a disability that requires special accommodation, please contact Virginia CLE^® well in advance of the program date.

Private recording of this program is prohibited.