Georgia lawmakers seek to update hate crime laws

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The Georgia Legislative Black Caucus announced its plans to propose a violent hate crime law under the Gold Dome Wednesday.

The GLBC said they will introduce the legislation during this year's session which began Monday.

Hate crime laws, which are on the books in 45 other states, mandate harsher penalties for crimes motivated by prejudice.

At Wednesday's announcement, the GLBC said Georgia is overdue for this kind of legislation.

A similar hate crime law proposal was announced last week. The main difference is that law would tack hate crimes onto existing crimes.

Wednesday's proposal would allow hate crimes to be prosecuted as individual incidents.