Thank you for contacting me about hate crimes legislation. I appreciate
hearing from you on this issue.

Gene rally, the term "hate crime" refers to a criminal act committed
against a person or institution because of prejudice against the person
or institution's identity. For example, arson of a black church is
commonly considered a hate crime because the motive of such arson is to
use an act of violence to target a specific racial or religious group,
not just the individual victim or property. According to the FBI's
Uniform Crime Report, nationwide, there were 7,163 incidents of hate
crimes in 2005.

Opponents have argued that hate crimes legislation infringes upon the
First Amendment's protection of free speech. The Supreme Court, however,
unanimously upheld Wisconsin 's hate crime law in 1993, finding that
such laws deal with sentencing of violent crimes, not the
criminalization of speech.

T he Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007 , H.R.
1592 , would make it a federal crime to cause, or attempt to cause,
bodily harm to another person through the use of fire, a firearm, or an
explosive device because of that individual's actual or perceived race,
color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or
disability. It would also provide assistance to localities in their
attempt to curb hate crime. Like Wisconsin 's law, it does not restrict
a person's free speach. On May 3, 2007, the House of Representatives
passed H.R. 1592 by a vote of 237 to 180. It is currently pending before
the Senate.

Again, thank you for contacting me. Please let me know if you have
further questions on this or any other issue. I also encourage you to
visit my Web site,

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welcome any comments on this...damn hard to trust those people in DC

Church burning is illegal already, why do we have to add more
legislation? If it's already a crime, why is it an uber-crime if you
hate the person? Seems to me that if you are commiting a crime against
someone, you must already hate them. I see the need to prosecute
someone more severely if they commit a crime against someone who is
weaker than the attacker or completely helpless, but that's why we have
sentencing guidelines.

spider..kind of my thoughts too...just makes me nervous having a bill
that in any
way allows lawmakers to classify crime into many categories...it just
seems
unnecessary

I think it's worse than that, it would allow individual DAs tack on a
higher sentence based on their own bias. A white prosecutor could call
any crime commited by a black person against a white person a "hate
crime" and vise versa. The interpretation of the facts will be up to
the individual DA, because there are too many variable to codify it into
law.

I agree. Looks redundant. Political correctness. Candy for the PC crowd.

I suppose if you want to increase your popularity as a politician it is
always possible to jump on some PC bandwagon and wave the PC flags till
people flock to your side. Seems a cheap and costly shot to me.

I think that is the basis for people screaming about this bill..it
creates the
first wrung in the ladder that will lead to words becoming a form of
hate crime..
nonsense