ADL Legal Affairs publications are distributed to law enforcement, prosecutors' offices, state legislators, civil rights groups and others.

While continuing to monitor and counter attacks on the Jewish community, ADL remained vigilant against threats to all groups ­ in the belief that an assault on any one group damages the fabric of our whole society. Nowhere was this clearer than in the League's campaign against hate crimes.

In the wake of the vicious murders of James Byrd Jr. in Jasper, Texas, and Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyoming, ADL renewed the call for penalty enhancement for bias-motivated crimes, on both the Federal and state level. At present, 40 states have enacted hate crimes laws, based on or similar to model legislation developed by ADL and unanimously upheld by the Supreme Court in 1993. The League urged those states that have not adopted such laws ­ including New York and Wyoming ­ to do so. ADL's Regional Offices, Legal Affairs Department and the Government and National Affairs Office continued to work in the forefront of the hate-crime law campaign, lobbying Congress and state legislatures and responding in print to columnists who oppose penalty enhancement. While speaking out in public, the League was equally active behind the scenes ­ working with local police and prosecutors in hate-crime investigations and testifying in favor of penalty enhancement before state legislative committees.