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Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2005 introduced by Congressmen Shays, Frank, Conyers and Ros-Lehtinen

Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2005 introduced by Congressmen Shays, Frank, Conyers and Ros-Lehtinen
Representatives Barney Frank (D-MA), Christopher Shays (R-CT), John Conyers (D-MI) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) on Thursday, May 26, introduced legislation to give federal protection to the victims of hate crimes. The Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2005 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. Similar legislation filed last year had almost 200 bipartisan cosponsors. We realized that we needed to make a small change to last years bill by explicitly including Transgendered persons for protection under this bill. It is important to carefully identify those people who are most likely to be singled out for pernicious acts, said Congressman Barney Frank. 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 offenders irrational antagonism toward some personal attribute associated with the victim. Law enforcement identified 9,100 victims arising from 8,715 separate criminal offenses. Religious bias and sexual orientation bias each accounted for 16.4 percent of reported single-bias hate crimes, followed by ethnicity/national origin bias with 14.2 percent and disability bias with 0.5 percent of single bias-motivated offenses. It is widely believed that hate crimes are seriously under-reported. Under federal hate crimes legislation, the primary responsibility in prosecuting these crimes lies with the state. The legislation operates to give assistance to the states. Extending the federal law would allow state and local authorities to take advantage of federal investigative resources and personnel in bringing cases based on state law. Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin released the following statement Thursday regarding the bills introduction: This is an historic piece of legislation. For the first time in our nations history, a highly vulnerable group would be accorded the same protections most of America takes for granted. Violence against Transgender people is widespread and largely under-reported. A 1997 survey conducted by GenderPAC found that 59 percent of Transgender people reported being the victim of harassment or violence. According to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, 11 percent of the 2,384 victims of anti-Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender hate crimes recorded in 2003 identified as Transgender. This is a necessary piece of legislation because our nations founding principles revolve around the concept of individual liberties and the ability to live our lives in a free and open society. Hate crimes are intended to intimidate their victims and limit their freedom. Hate crimes are meant to instill fear. And the fear that hate crimes instill is not simply targeted at the immediate victim, but at members of a group. Hate crimes are different than any other violent crime because they seek to terrorize an entire community, be it by burning a cross in someones yard, desecrating a synagogue, or bombing a Gay-owned business. I know that hate crime legislation cannot cure the hate that still resides among some in our country, but this legislation can provide more protections for groups who are targeted and send an important message that Congress believes that hate crimes against any group are a serious national problem that deserves to be addressed. This sort of domestic terrorism demands a strong federal response and I am proud and honored to join my colleagues in making history here in the defense of the American values of personal safety and freedom. News release from the Office of Congressman Barney Frank with additions from Congressowoman Tammy Baldwin


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