Combating Hate Crimes: A Presentation and Discussion with Assistant State’s Attorney Wesam Shahed

Combating Hate Crimes: A Presentation and Discussion with Assistant State’s Attorney Wesam Shahed

The presentation will address what is a hate crime according to Illinois laws and how are these crimes/incidents addressed legally and socially.

Shahed is a first-generation Palestinian American from Chicago. He serves as a policy advisor, assistant state’s attorney at the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, the second-largest prosecutor’s office in the US. Shahed has not only been recognized as one of the most promising young talents in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, but he has also been internationally recognized in the Arab American Foundation’s “30 Under 30.” Wesam recently gave a TEDx Talk on criminal justice reform titled “Does Justice Always Require a Conviction?” Shahed’s involvement ranges far beyond his day job, as he is the finance director for the first Muslim and Palestinian American to be elected by the Democratic Party into Illinois’s House Legislature in 2023. Shahed holds executive leadership positions for the Arab Professional Business Association, the Arab American Bar Association, the Muslim Bar Association, the AB Korkor Mental Health Foundation and the ACLU Illinois.