mr. chairman , i offer this amendment to the bill to address a blight on our society , the scourge of hate violence . 
because , currently , we lack sufficient data to assist in determining how to address bias crime directed toward children . 
this amendment would correct that oversight . 
for the year 2003 , for example , the most recent available data , the fbi compiled reports from law enforcement agencies across the country identifying 7 , 489 criminal incidents that were motivated by an offender 's irrational antagonism towards some personal attribute associated with the victim . 
