CONCORD – Attorney General John M. Formella announces the initiation of enforcement actions by the New Hampshire Department of Justice Civil Rights Unit against two seventeen-year-old male juveniles from Weare, NH, for violating the New Hampshire Civil Rights Act.
The civil complaints, filed in the Northern Judicial District of the Hillsborough County Superior Court, allege that on April 20, 2022, the teens carved, wrote, and caused threatening, race-motivated property damage inside a bathroom at John Stark Regional High School in Weare, NH that identified and violated the civil rights of a black student at the school.
One of the teens is accused of writing, “Blacks stand no chance,” and, “KKK.” The other teen is accused of drawing swastikas, as well as well as carving a threatening message that incorporated the black student’s name next to a racial slur. The civil complaints allege that the damage was motivated by the victim’s race.
A civil rights violation allows for a maximum civil penalty of $5,000. The court may also enjoin further violations of the Civil Rights Act.
The complaints and the allegations contained therein are merely accusations that the Civil Rights Unit must prove at a final hearing.
The Civil Rights Unit enforces state and federal civil rights laws, including the New Hampshire Civil Rights Act and the New Hampshire Law Against Discrimination. Anyone who believes their civil rights may have been violated may file a complaint at https://www.doj.nh.gov/civil-rights/index.htm or by calling 603-271-3650.