Joe Solomonese, HRC Director, has put forward a video warning people that federal hate-crimes legislation for gays and lesbians has just passed a first hurdle this week.
A REPEAT OF YEAR 2000 AND THE $10 MILLION DOLLAR, TWO-YEAR 'NEW STUDY'
Looking through the bill, however, I see a maneuver that was used in 2000 to delay and postpone enacting an appropriate law. Back then, the hate-crimes measure was killed in conference in favor of 'more study'.
Attached to this year's defense authorization (HR 1585), Senator Hatch's amendment (SA 3047), passed 96-3, which I believe is just a set-up for this language to be what is kept in the conference report while the rest ... gets jettisoned.
Although cloaked in the guise of caring or equality, the disgustingly anti-gay animus behind the votes against federal hate-crimes legislation and for 'more study' is fairly plain.
- 1. The current hate-crimes legislation is 'working' for the Justice department. The longtime failure to add 'sexual orientation' and 'gender identity' is shameful, doubly so given the longstanding, vocal endorsement from the Nation's law enforcement community.
- 2. If all these crimes are already being 'dealt with', as certain arch-conservatives contend, vocally and stridently, then passing such legislation would have no impact and would bring up no issues of 'Constitutionality', simply because there would be no cases to litigate.
In other words, if there is no hate crime in America OR it is is already being handled, then this law is will have no impact, by those same assumptions.
The almost inescapable conclusion is that those Senators who are accepting delay are abetting those States in which hate-crime legislation is probably needed the most, not wholly unlike the case when folks were going around hanging people in the South while 'justice' looked the other way, quite often. During those times, the Senate itself was also shamefully paralyzed.
The press speculated years ago that those States most adverse to even data collection for hate crimes were those, particularly in the South, who were afraid of having the truth-in-statistics about what was going on make them 'look bad'.
If ever there were a time NOT to have 'federalism', it is when equivalent justice is hard to come by, intra-state, so blatantly.
On the other hand, in States like Utah, who have a mostly-for-show Human Rights Commission (toothless, no legal jurisdiction or authority), their principle objection is that the other 49 States cannot tell them to get their laws in line. Yet, this is precisely what has been needed. We would never tolerate a State that decided to go back to Jim Crow, why should we tolerate a State that cannot bring itself to formally recognize that homosexuals ... exist?
WASTING LGBT TAX DOLLARS ON A STUDY THAT WILL ULTIMATELY NOT PROVIDE ANSWERS
The details of the $10 million dollar, two-year study are shown below.
Note that no local jurisdiction is required by this law under penalty to keep accurate statistics on hate crime. Many people believe that hate-crimes are seriously under-reported, for a host of reasons.
Therefore, as far as LGBT, this study will show nothing more than what is available from the current data set and it will offer as biased a result. (I cannot understand why the entire Senate would vote for it.)
And what would it show to anti-gay Senators anyway? That over a small period of time, jurisdictions without hate-laws punished people maybe just as much as jurisdictions with hate-crimes laws? So what? Does that mean crime is never going to start-up again or ebb and flow? Hardly. This posturing is will simply fill a need for the 'next round' of the propaganda to mask their anti-gay animus, in all likelihood.
If you think that is just being cynical, it's not. Some Senators do not even read the reports that they sent taxpayers money to create. Look here, from 2002, just five years ago:
Although the Committee agrees with Senator Hatch [in the 2007 round, Senator Sessions, too] concerning the proper role of the Federal Government in prosecuting criminal conduct, the Hate Crimes Act is consistent with a long history of Federal involvement in combating criminal conduct.
...
There are already more than 3,000 Federal crimes.
...
There are already more than 3,000 Federal crimes.
What's more, are we supposed ignore that it may well be the case that some gay people move out of hate-filled States, in part because they are afraid for their safety and because they have no protections there? Is this the America we want? Is that in the 'study'?
Last, even if the numbers come out equally among jurisdictions studied, what does that have to do with a functioning Justice department, per se? The fact of the matter may be that a legion of people scanning news items for potential bias crime are what is putting the statistics right, not any amount of 'proper functioning' of 'the system' under current laws ...
On the other hand, what if it does show something, as the general numbers suggest, that gays and transgender folks continue to be targeted for violent acts beyond what one would expect? How do you apologize for the cost of your endless delay to the victims, Senator Hatch? By saying you "abhor it" or that it is a regrettable tragedy related to the perpetrator, in which the call for justice doesn't make you culpable?
ADDING 'AGE' AND 'GENDER'
The effort to study 'age' and 'gender' is ultimately just a way to confuse the issue, strictly from an LGBT viewpoint.
Some jurisdictions do have laws that address 'age' in one way or another. At the same time, most people do not believe that violence against older people is related to a unique or historical animus against old people and that 'age' is just a proxy for 'fragile'. No similar proxy exists, that I can think of, for 'sexual orientation', 'race', 'religion', etc.
SA 3047. Mr. CASEY (for Mr. HATCH) proposed an amendment to amendment SA 2011 proposed by Mr. NELSON of Nebraska (for Mr. LEVIN) to the bill H.R. 1585, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2008 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes; as follows:
At the appropriate place in the substitute add the following:
SEC. __. COMPREHENSIVE STUDY AND SUPPORT FOR CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS AND PROSECUTIONS BY STATE AND LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS.
(a) Studies.--
(1) COLLECTION OF DATA.--
(A) DEFINITION OF RELEVANT OFFENSE.--In this paragraph, the term ``relevant offense'' means a crime described in subsection (b)(1) of the first section of Public Law 101-275 (28 U.S.C. 534 note) and a crime that manifests evidence of prejudice based on gender or age.
(B) COLLECTION FROM CROSS-SECTION OF STATES.--Not later than 120 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States, in consultation with the National Governors' Association, shall, if possible, select 10 jurisdictions with laws classifying certain types of offenses as relevant offenses and 10 jurisdictions without such laws from which to collect the data described in subparagraph (C) over a 12-month period.
(C) DATA TO BE COLLECTED.--The data described in this paragraph are--
(i) the number of relevant offenses that are reported and investigated in the jurisdiction;
(ii) the percentage of relevant offenses that are prosecuted and the percentage that result in conviction;
(iii) the duration of the sentences imposed for crimes classified as relevant offenses in the jurisdiction, compared with the length of sentences imposed for similar crimes committed in jurisdictions with no laws relating to relevant offenses; and
(iv) references to and descriptions of the laws under which the offenders were punished.
(D) COSTS.--Participating jurisdictions shall be reimbursed for the reasonable and necessary costs of compiling data collected under this paragraph.
(2) STUDY OF RELEVANT OFFENSE ACTIVITY.--
(A) IN GENERAL.--Not later than 18 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall complete a study and submit to Congress a report that analyzes the data collected under paragraph (1) and under section 534 of title 28, United States Code, to determine the extent of relevant offense activity throughout the United States and the success of State and local officials in combating that activity.
(B) IDENTIFICATION OF TRENDS.--In the study conducted under subparagraph (A), the Comptroller General of the United States shall identify any trends in the commission of relevant offenses specifically by--
(i) geographic region;
(ii) type of crime committed; and
(iii) the number and percentage of relevant offenses that are prosecuted and the number for which convictions are obtained.
(b) Assistance Other Than Financial Assistance.--At the request of a law enforcement official of a State or a political subdivision of a State, the Attorney General, acting through the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and in cases where the Attorney General determines special circumstances exist, may provide technical, forensic, prosecutorial, or any other assistance in the criminal investigation or prosecution of any crime that--
(1) constitutes a crime of violence (as defined in section 16 of title 18, United States Code);
(2) constitutes a felony under the laws of the State; and
(3) is motivated by animus against the victim by reason of the membership of the victim in a particular class or group.
(c) Grants.--
(1) IN GENERAL.--The Attorney General may, in cases where the Attorney General determines special circumstances exist, make grants to States and local subdivisions of States to assist those entities in the investigation and prosecution of crimes motivated by animus against the victim by reason of the membership of the victim in a particular class or group.
(2) ELIGIBILITY.--A State or political subdivision of a State applying for assistance under this subsection shall--
(A) describe the purposes for which the grant is needed; and
(B) certify that the State or political subdivision lacks the resources necessary to investigate or prosecute a crime motivated by animus against the victim by reason of the membership of the victim in a particular class or group.
(3) DEADLINE.--An application for a grant under this subsection shall be approved or disapproved by the Attorney General not later than 10 days after the application is submitted.
(4) GRANT AMOUNT.--A grant under this subsection shall not exceed $100,000 for any single case.
(5) REPORT AND AUDIT.--Not later than December 31, 2008, the Attorney General, in consultation with the National Governors' Association, shall--
(A) submit to Congress a report describing the applications made for grants under this subsection, the award of such grants, and the effectiveness of the grant funds awarded; and
(B) conduct an audit of the grants awarded under this subsection to ensure that such grants are used for the purposes provided in this subsection.
(6) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.--There is authorized to be appropriated $5,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2008 and 2009 to carry out this section.
At the appropriate place in the substitute add the following:
SEC. __. COMPREHENSIVE STUDY AND SUPPORT FOR CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS AND PROSECUTIONS BY STATE AND LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS.
(a) Studies.--
(1) COLLECTION OF DATA.--
(A) DEFINITION OF RELEVANT OFFENSE.--In this paragraph, the term ``relevant offense'' means a crime described in subsection (b)(1) of the first section of Public Law 101-275 (28 U.S.C. 534 note) and a crime that manifests evidence of prejudice based on gender or age.
(B) COLLECTION FROM CROSS-SECTION OF STATES.--Not later than 120 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States, in consultation with the National Governors' Association, shall, if possible, select 10 jurisdictions with laws classifying certain types of offenses as relevant offenses and 10 jurisdictions without such laws from which to collect the data described in subparagraph (C) over a 12-month period.
(C) DATA TO BE COLLECTED.--The data described in this paragraph are--
(i) the number of relevant offenses that are reported and investigated in the jurisdiction;
(ii) the percentage of relevant offenses that are prosecuted and the percentage that result in conviction;
(iii) the duration of the sentences imposed for crimes classified as relevant offenses in the jurisdiction, compared with the length of sentences imposed for similar crimes committed in jurisdictions with no laws relating to relevant offenses; and
(iv) references to and descriptions of the laws under which the offenders were punished.
(D) COSTS.--Participating jurisdictions shall be reimbursed for the reasonable and necessary costs of compiling data collected under this paragraph.
(2) STUDY OF RELEVANT OFFENSE ACTIVITY.--
(A) IN GENERAL.--Not later than 18 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall complete a study and submit to Congress a report that analyzes the data collected under paragraph (1) and under section 534 of title 28, United States Code, to determine the extent of relevant offense activity throughout the United States and the success of State and local officials in combating that activity.
(B) IDENTIFICATION OF TRENDS.--In the study conducted under subparagraph (A), the Comptroller General of the United States shall identify any trends in the commission of relevant offenses specifically by--
(i) geographic region;
(ii) type of crime committed; and
(iii) the number and percentage of relevant offenses that are prosecuted and the number for which convictions are obtained.
(b) Assistance Other Than Financial Assistance.--At the request of a law enforcement official of a State or a political subdivision of a State, the Attorney General, acting through the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and in cases where the Attorney General determines special circumstances exist, may provide technical, forensic, prosecutorial, or any other assistance in the criminal investigation or prosecution of any crime that--
(1) constitutes a crime of violence (as defined in section 16 of title 18, United States Code);
(2) constitutes a felony under the laws of the State; and
(3) is motivated by animus against the victim by reason of the membership of the victim in a particular class or group.
(c) Grants.--
(1) IN GENERAL.--The Attorney General may, in cases where the Attorney General determines special circumstances exist, make grants to States and local subdivisions of States to assist those entities in the investigation and prosecution of crimes motivated by animus against the victim by reason of the membership of the victim in a particular class or group.
(2) ELIGIBILITY.--A State or political subdivision of a State applying for assistance under this subsection shall--
(A) describe the purposes for which the grant is needed; and
(B) certify that the State or political subdivision lacks the resources necessary to investigate or prosecute a crime motivated by animus against the victim by reason of the membership of the victim in a particular class or group.
(3) DEADLINE.--An application for a grant under this subsection shall be approved or disapproved by the Attorney General not later than 10 days after the application is submitted.
(4) GRANT AMOUNT.--A grant under this subsection shall not exceed $100,000 for any single case.
(5) REPORT AND AUDIT.--Not later than December 31, 2008, the Attorney General, in consultation with the National Governors' Association, shall--
(A) submit to Congress a report describing the applications made for grants under this subsection, the award of such grants, and the effectiveness of the grant funds awarded; and
(B) conduct an audit of the grants awarded under this subsection to ensure that such grants are used for the purposes provided in this subsection.
(6) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.--There is authorized to be appropriated $5,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2008 and 2009 to carry out this section.
