News
2007-04-13
Kennedy, Smith
reintroduce hate-crimes bill
Hate-crimes bill
reintroduced in Senate
The Local Law
Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act was reintro
The Local Law
Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act was reintroduced
Thursday in the U.S. Senate. Sponsored by Democratic senator
Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts and Republican senator
Gordon Smith of Oregon, the bill was renamed the
Matthew Shepard Bill in tribute to the hate-crime victim
and his mother, Judy Shepard, who joined the senators in
reintroducing the measure. The bill would
strengthen the ability of law enforcement officials to
investigate and prosecute the more than 9,000
bias-motivated violent crimes reported each year. An
identical bill was introduced last month in the U.S.
House of Representatives by Democratic representative
John Conyers Jr. of Michigan and Republican representative
Mark Kirk of Illinois. This is the fifth consecutive session
of Congress to consider a hate-crimes bill.
“This is
one of the most important pieces of federal legislation to
help erase hate in our society today," Judy Shepard
was quoted as saying in a Human Rights Campaign press
release. "I urge every American to contact your
leaders, including the president, and encourage them to
support this bill. Whether it be for Matthew or for the
thousands of other victims of hate crimes, I am
personally asking for your help to ensure this
important piece of legislation passes.”
The bill adds
crimes motivated by the victim's sexual orientation,
gender, gender identity, and disability to existing federal
law conferring authority on the federal government to
investigate and prosecute violent crimes. This
authority already exists for crimes committed because
of the victim’s race, color, religion, or national
origin.
“According
to the FBI, over 9,000 people a year, or 24 people every
day, are victimized by hate crimes," the HRC release
quoted Kennedy as saying. "The Southern Poverty
Law Center estimates that the number may be four times
that many since so many hate crimes routinely go
unreported. These crimes are acts of domestic terrorism that
have an impact far greater than on the individual
victim. Hate crimes target whole communities.”
“A
principal responsibility of government is to protect and
defend its citizens and to come to the aid of the
mistreated," Smith was quoted as saying in the
release. "As a nation founded on the ideals of
tolerance and justice, we simply cannot accept violence that
is motivated by bias and hate. Current law is limited.
Our proposal would change that, and change it
permanently.”
Similar bills
have passed both the House and Senate in recent years but
have failed to be signed into law. (The
Advocate)
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