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.
1968âthe first piece of federal legislation to distinguish criminal activity moti-. vated by bias against victims due to their actual or perceived race, religion, or. national origin.6 Concern over hate crimes in the 1980s and 1990s led to the pas-. sage of additional federal legislation.