Senate Approves Strengthened Hate Crimes Legislation
Feature Story by civilrights.org staff - 6/16/2004
Supporting federal laws against hate crimes, the Senate on June 15 approved (65 to 33) the Local Law Enforcement Act (LLEEA), which among other changes, expands federal hate crime protection to include sexual orientation, gender, and disability.Offered as an amendment to the Department of Defense authorization bill by Senators Gordon Smith, R-Ore., and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., LLEEA allows for better investigation and prosecution of bias-motivated crimes.
The current federal law on hate crimes was passed after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1964. Critics say that the outdated law includes far too many restrictions requiring proof that a victim is attacked.
"The Smith-Kennedy Amendment strengthens the federal hate crimes statute by removing unnecessary obstacles to federal prosecution and by providing authority for federal involvement in a wider category of bias-motivated crimes," said Wade Henderson, executive director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights.
Current hate crimes law leaves federal prosecutors powerless to intervene in bias-motivated crimes when they cannot also establish that the crime was committed because of the victim's involvement in a "federally-protected activity" such as serving on a jury, attending a public school, or voting.
LLEEA enhances federal response to all hate crime violence and now includes violent crimes based on sexual orientation, gender, and disability, in addition to the existing categories of race, color, religion, and national origin.
"This expansion is critical in order to protect members of these groups from this most egregious form of discrimination," Henderson said.
By instituting a certification procedure in which the federal government will be required to consult with local officials before moving a federal case, the amendment also ensures that state interests are protected. Federal assistance will be offered to state and local law enforcement officials for the investigation and prosecution of hate crimes in the federal categories, and grants will be given for training in local law enforcement.
The amendment will next be considered in conference with the House of Representatives.
"We welcome Senate approval of this necessary legislation – and we will go to the mat in support of retaining these provisions in the House-Senate conference," said Barbara B. Balser, ADL National Chair, and Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director.
According to the FBI, 7,462 hate crimes were reported in the United States in 2002. Supporters of strengthened hate crimes laws hope to see those numbers decrease.
