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.
These stories arenât exceptions. At least 6,593 hate crimes occurred in 2012, according to hate crime data compiled by the University of Michigan. The map below reveals where hate crimes frequently occur. Each county is colored based on its hate crime rate, the number of hate crimes per 100,000 residents in 2012.