| christian grantham | |||
| Christian Grantham was a student activist in the late 90s and later was a consultant to domestic policy forums for the Clinton Administration as well as events for HRC and GLAAD. | |||
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latest posts
December 28, 2004
There are two different views on what should be done about hate crimes that often fall along party lines. Democrats often believe punishment for hate crimes should carry harsher penalties and federal prosecution and Republicans believe all crimes should receive equal punishment and treatment by the federal government.
I'm pretty familiar with both arguments, but what I don't get about fellow Democratic arguments is why they don't seem to want to address the Republican concerns that federal prosecution will be used as a second attempt at justice reserved exclusively for minorities when people don't like the results of local prosecution. I believe there should be measures in place to prevent that kind of abuse of the judicial system.
What Republicans have to understand is that local justice might not have the willingness to explore motivations based on hate because of their own prejudices. Such a conspiratorial misuse of justice on a local level might be extremely rare, but should be an important factor in triggering federal involvement in hate crimes prosecution.
What Democrats should understand is that the issue of federal funding of and involvement in hate crimes prosecution ought to first be a requirement of the state. The federal government should limit funding to its own limited involvement and prosecution of state and local authorities found guilty for causes triggering federal involvement.
When people are targeted for characteristics that set the individual aside from others as a minority, there is a chilling affect on a group of people where crimes of passion often do not. If a neighbor is killed by her husband over personal matters, for instance, neighbors don't have a reason to fear they might be next. If a neighbor was targeted for minority characteristics shared by other neighbors, then neighbors do have a reason to fear they might be next. The nature of the later example is terrorism of an entire targeted minority and should receive stiffer penalties under the law. People falling in that category would include racists, rapists, child molesters, anti-semites, etc.
"Hate crimes are among the most insidious offenses and are a cancer on a civilized society," Crist said in a statement accompanying the report. "There can be no place in our state for people who target others out of prejudice and hatred."Hate crimes based on sexual orientation accounted for 20 percent of all hate crimes, the highest proportion for this category ever recorded in Florida. In the past four years, Florida law-enforcement agencies reported more hate crimes motivated by sexual orientation than the combined total for the first eight years of hate-crime reporting.
[Offenses against gays increase - Tallahassee Democrat - 12-28-04]
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