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Hate Crimes Bill Passes House
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John Henry
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May 04, 2007 07:49 PDT
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House Passes Expanded Hate Crimes Bill
By Jim Abrams
The Associated Press
May 03, 2007
The House voted Thursday to expand federal hate crime categories to
include violent attacks against gays and people targeted because of
gender, acting just hours after the White House threatened a
veto.
The legislation, passed 237-180, also would make it easier for federal
law enforcement to take part in or assist local prosecutions involving
bias-motivated attacks. Similar legislation is also moving through the
Senate, setting the stage for a possible veto showdown with President
Bush.
'This is an important vote of conscience, of a statement of what America
is, a society that understands that we accept differences,' said House
Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md.
Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., the only openly gay man in the House,
presided over the chamber as the final vote was taken.
The vote came after fierce lobbying from opposite sides by civil rights
groups, who have been pushing for years for added protections against
hate crimes, and social conservatives, who say the bill threatens the
right to express moral opposition to homosexuality and singles out groups
of citizens for special protection.
The White House said state and local criminal laws already cover the new
crimes defined under the bill and there was 'no persuasive demonstration
of any need to federalize such a potentially large range of violent crime
enforcement.'
It also noted that the bill leaves other classes, such as the elderly,
the military and police officers, without similar special
status.
'Our criminal justice system has been built on the ideal of equal justice
for all,' said Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas, top Republican on the Judiciary
Committee. 'Under this bill justice will no longer be equal, but depend
on the race, sex, sexual orientation, disability or status of the
victim.'
Republicans, in a parliamentary move that would have effectively killed
the bill, tried to add seniors and the military to those qualifying for
hate crimes protection. It was defeated on a mainly party-line
vote.
Hate crimes under current federal law apply to acts of violence against
individuals on the basis of race, religion, color, or national origin.
Federal prosecutors have jurisdiction only if the victim is engaged in a
specific federally protected activity such as voting.
The House bill would extend the hate crimes category to include sexual
orientation, gender, gender identity or disability and give federal
authorities greater leeway to participate in hate crime investigations.
It would approve $10 million over the next two years to help local law
enforcement officials cover the cost of hate crime prosecutions.
Federal investigators could step in if local authorities were unwilling
or unable to act. The Human Rights Campaign, the country's largest gay
rights group, said this federal intervention could have made a difference
in the case of Brandon Teena, the young Nebraska transsexual depicted in
the movie 'Boys Don't Cry' who was raped after two friends discovered
that he was biologically female and then murdered after local police did
not arrest those responsible.
But Dr. James C. Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, warned that the
true intent of the bill was 'to muzzle people of faith who dare to
express their moral and biblical concerns about homosexuality.' If you
read the Bible in a certain way, he told his broadcast listeners, 'you
may be guilty of committing a 'thought crime.''
'It does not impinge on public speech or writing in any way,' countered
Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., pointing out that the
bill reaffirms First Amendment and free speech rights.
Conyers said in a statement that state and local authorities will
continue to prosecute the overwhelming majority of such cases and the
bill requires the attorney general or another high-ranking Justice
Department official to approve any federal prosecutions.
The legislation restates already-enacted penalties. Those using guns to
commit crimes defined under the bill face prison terms of up to 10 years.
Crimes involving kidnapping or sexual assault or resulting in death can
bring life terms.
The Senate bill, sponsored by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., is named for
Matthew Shepard, the gay college student who died after he was beaten and
tied to a fence in Wyoming in 1998. His mother Judy, who heads a
foundation in her son's name and has been a leading advocate of the
legislation, addressed House Democrats before the vote to ask for their
backing.
The Judiciary Committee cited FBI figures that there have been more than
113,000 hate crimes since 1991, including 7,163 in 1995. It said that
racially motivated bias accounted for 55 percent of those incidents,
religious bias for 17 percent, sexual orientation bias for 14 percent and
ethnicity bias for 14 percent.
___
The bill is H.R. 1592
On the Net:
Congress:
http://thomas.loc.gov/
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press.
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