Federal Hate Crime Law

2 Pages 523 Words

There is currently a proposal to include sexual orientation under the existing Federal Hate Crime Law. Hate crimes are defined as expressed hostility toward someone's race, religion, ancestry, sexual orientation, or physical disability. These actions are meant to send a message to all who have the same quality. Some believe that hate crime law punishes attitudes and is therefore unconstitutional, threatening free speech and the First Amendment. Others believe that homosexuals should receive the same protection as any other group that is discriminated against. I believe that Congress should enact a law that includes sexual orientation as a protected class under the existing Federal Hate Crime Law. State statutes are not enough; there needs to be a national standard set.
Gays and lesbians experience more abuse due to sexual orientation than any other grouping of people. One in every five gays and lesbians experience some sort of physical assault in their lifetime due to their sexual orientation. The Uniform Crime Report for the year 2000 shows that more than 90% are verbally abused because of their sexual orientation and, quite often, hate speech leads to violence. Hate crimes (as true of many others) are vastly under reported. Although the general crime report has a participation rate of 95%, reports of hate crimes are far less. Because jurisdiction participation is voluntary, many do not report these statistics. It is reasonable to believe that many more are experiencing violence from others for no reason other than their sexual preference. The people who are committing these crimes deserve to spend extra time in prison if convicted because these crimes are committed with intent to send a whole group of people a certain message; this message is that the group is wrong and deserves to be punished for this.
A national standard needs to be set in regards to minimums of Hate Crime laws. Sexual orientation is included in ...