Bipolar disorder, which used to be called manic depressive illness or manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by wide mood swings from high (manic) to low (depressed). Periods of high or irritable mood are called manic episodes.
James Byrd, Jr. was not engaged in a federally-protected activity when he was lynched and killed. The Matthew Shepard Act expanded the 1969 Federal Hate Crime Law to cover these and other types of brutal murders.
Contents. 1  1 Federal prosecution of hate crimes 1.1 Civil Rights Act of 1968. 2  2 State laws 2.1 Sexual orientation and gender identity. 3  3 Data collection statutes 3.1 Hate Crime Statistics Act of 1990.  4 Prevalence of hate crimes 4.1 Deliberate attacks on the homeless as hate crimes.