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.
Source Documents. 1899. 1899 Queensland passes first Criminal Code, developed by Sir Samuel Griffith, which incorporates common law and statutory offences into one piece of legislation. Similar Codes were enacted in Western Australia in 1902, in Tasmania in 1922 and in the Northern Territory in 1983.