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“REINTRODUCTION OF LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT HATE CRIMES PREVENTION ACT” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E1118 on May 26, 2005.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
REINTRODUCTION OF LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT HATE CRIMES PREVENTION ACT
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HON. JOHN CONYERS, JR.
of michigan
in the house of representatives
Thursday, May 26, 2005
Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to introduce the bipartisan Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2005, along with Representatives Frank, Ros-Lehtinen and Shays. In past Congresses, this legislation has been cosponsored by almost 200 members and we expect similar support this session.
Bias crimes are disturbingly prevalent and pose a significant threat to the full participation of all Americans in our democratic society. For the year 2003, the most recently available data, the FBI compiled reports from law enforcement agencies across the country identifying 7,489 criminal incidents that were motivated by an offender's irrational antagonism toward some personal attribute associated with the victim. Law enforcement agencies have identified 9,100 victims arising from 8,715 separate criminal offenses. Racially motivated bias again accounted for more than half (51.4 percent) of all incidents. Religious bias accounted for 1,343 incidents (17.9 percent) and sexual orientation bias each accounted for 1,239 (16.6 percent) of all reported hate crimes, followed by ethnicity/national origin bias with 13.7 percent and disability bias with 0.4 percent of all incidents. While every state reported at least a small number of incidents, it is important to note that reporting by law enforcement is voluntary and it is widely believed that hate crimes are seriously under-reported.
Despite the pervasiveness of the problem, current law limits federal jurisdiction over hate crimes to incidents against protected classes that occur only during the exercise of federally protected activities, such as voting. Further, the statutes do not permit federal involvement in a range of cases where crimes are motivated by bias against the victim's perceived sexual orientation, gender, disability or gender identity. This loophole is particularly significant given the fact that four States have no hate crime laws on the books, and another 21 States have extremely weak hate crimes laws.
This legislation will make it easier for federal authorities to prosecute bias crimes, in the same way that the Church Arson Prevention Act of 1996 helped federal prosecutors combat church arson: by loosening the unduly rigid jurisdictional requirements under federal law. While ostensibly identical to past versions, this Congress the bill is more explicitly inclusive of the transgender community. In addition, we have included a provision mirroring the Washington State hate crimes statute that is designed to protect the 1st Amendment rights of the accused, without burdening the prosecution of those alleged offenses.
State and local authorities currently prosecute the overwhelming majority of hate crimes and will continue to do so under this legislation, with the enhanced support of the federal government. Through an Intergovernmental Assistance Program created by this legislation, the Justice Department will provide technical, forensic or prosecutorial assistance to State and local law enforcement officials in cases of bias crime. The legislation also authorizes the Attorney General to make grants to State and local law enforcement agencies that have incurred extraordinary expenses associated with the investigation and prosecution of hate crimes. Finally, under our bill, the Attorney General or other high ranking Justice Department officials must approve all prosecutions undertaken pursuant to this law, ensuring federal restraint, and further ensuring that the States will continue to take the lead.
Behind each of the crimes statistics cited above lies an individual or community targeted for violence for no other reason than race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, disability or gender identity. People like Waqar Hasan of Dallas, who lost his life in a post-911 backlash hate crime. His murderer admitted that he wanted to send a message to the local Arab population and beyond. These discrete communities have learned the hard way that a failure to address the problem of bias crime can cause a seemingly isolated incident to fester into wide spread tension that can damage the social fabric of the wider community.
The Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2005 is a constructive and measured response to a problem that continues to plague our Nation. These are crimes that shock and shame our national conscience and they should be subject to comprehensive federal law enforcement assistance and prosecution.
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