News
U.S. Senate Passes Hate Crimes Legislation – Disability Added to Protected Classes
On June 15, 2004, the Senate approved, by a vote of 65 to 33, the Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act, which among other things, expands federal hate crime protection to include disability, sexual orientation and gender. The bill was sponsored by Senators Gordon Smith (R-OR), Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and attached as an amendment to the Department of Defense authorization bill.
Current law permits the federal government to assist local and state authorities prosecuting certain types of crimes committed on the basis of the victim's race, religion or ethnic background. The legislation approved by the Senate would broaden it on two counts: allowing federal involvement in many more types of crimes, and adding disability, sexual orientation and gender to the list of covered categories. It also provides for more effective investigation and prosecution of bias-motivated crimes by removing some of the obstacles to federal prosecution.
Under the amendment, federal technical assistance would also be made available to state and local law enforcement officials for the investigation and prosecution of hate crimes that fall under federal categories, and grants would be given for training in local law enforcement.
This is the fourth time since 1999 that the Senate has approved the measure as an amendment to a larger bill, but despite the Senate's broad support, the House has refused to pass the legislation. On two occasions, in 1999 and 2000, conferees stripped the amendment from their conference report. The next step is for the amendment to be considered in a House-Senate conference.