So if the laws are effective, wouldn’t the number of incidents be going down each year?

Not necessarily. Proponents say a stronger law means more people may be willing to report hate crimes who wouldn’t have before.

“Why would you report that you were the victim of a hate crime unless you thought police were going to do something about it?” Lieberman says. “If [a city] pass[es] a strong hate crime law … it demonstrates that city is now taking these crimes very seriously,” he said.

Still, the laws have their critics, who question the usefulness of combating hate by extending prison sentences.

“I think they essentially come down to feel-good laws,” said Michael Bronski, a media studies professor at Harvard who co-wrote “Considering Hate: Violence, Goodness, and Justice in American Culture and Politics.”