Hate Crimes Legislation
The Administration should strongly support enactment of new federal Hate Crimes Legislation.
Hate crimes remain a festering and horrifying problem in the Unites States. The killings of James Byrd and Matthew Shepard, among other senseless acts of hatred, remind Americans that violence based on racial or other prejudices still occurs. Such heinous actions require a federal response. In the past, members of Congress have worked in a bipartisan manner to craft legislation, such as the 1990 Hate Crimes Statistics Act and the 1996 Church Arson Prevention Act, addressing prejudice that turns violent.
The current federal criminal laws with regard to hate crimes are inadequate in two important respects. First, they do not protect all victims of hate crimes; they do not cover violence based on sexual orientation, gender or disability. Second, these laws rest on an unnecessarily narrow basis for federal jurisdiction. As a result, they cannot be invoked in many cases where they should be used.
To fill these gaps, Senators Kennedy, Smith, Specter and Representatives Conyers, Morella, and others have introduced the Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act (LLEEA). Because it is limited to crimes directed at persons, not property, this version of the Act is more limited than earlier drafts. In the 106th Congress, the Senate passed a version of the hate crimes legislation as an amendment to the Defense Authorization Bill. The House of Representatives is also on record in support of that legislation, having instructed its conferees to support the Senate amendment in conference. Although hate crimes legislation was not included in the final appropriations bill, the Administration should work with the Congress to ensure enactment of the LLEEA this year.
