HCL are different from state to state, city to city, which is another reason we need a uniform Federal HCL. (more) -- Welcome To The Crzy House

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Date Posted: 08:53:42 06/12/03 Thu
Author: Lance
Subject: HCL are different from state to state, city to city, which is another reason we need a uniform Federal HCL. (more)
In reply to: Geoff 's message, "I understand that, Mitchell, but what does it provide? Are there additional penalties, or such as that?" on 01:15:57 06/12/03 Thu

One of the versions of a Feederal HCL is the LLEEA - Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act. It is a bill that would expand federal jurisdiction to reach serious, violent hate crimes.

The measure covers hate crimes based on "the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender or disability" of the victims. Under the bill, hate crimes that cause death or bodily injury or that are committed with a firearm or explosive device could be investigated by federal law enforcement authorities under certain conditions.

I don't know if you've read much about the Matthew Shepard case.

The guilty were caught, prosecuted, and sentenced by local authorities without benefit of any state, local, or federal HCL. On the surface it appears to be a good example that the system works and existing laws will handle any kind of hate crime.

One of the reasons the system worked (and local law enforcement did such a great job) was because the media had that situation under a microscope. Everything that was said or done was reported around the world as it was being said and done. This was a very powerful motivating force for the local authorities to "get it right" and they did. They did an excellent job.

But if you looked over the partial list of gay hate crime murder victims that I posted, you've seen how many of them died equally horrible deaths, yet have you ever heard of these victims?

Most hate crimes against gays don't receive a lot of publicity. Are the local authorities doing as good a job on these cases as they did on Matthew Shepard and if not, what can the victim's families do about it?

I don't know if you watch QAF but one of the ongoing story lines is about the body of a young teen age gay kid being found in a dumpster and how apathetic the police are about it, some of them even laughing and cracking jokes as though this kid was just another piece of trash. Was this kid the victim of a hate crime? Their attitude is pretty much, "who cares."

Now while that is fiction, as I looked down that long particial list of names, I wondered how many of their killers were arrested and brought to justice. I wondered how many of these murders were swept under the rug.

If we had a national HCL, all murders that might be a hate crime (the victim is a minority) would be more carefully investigated by local law enforcement to determine if a hate crime had occurred.

And if someone is the victim of a hate crime and local law enforcement doesn't give it their best effort, no one is arrested or prosecuted, then the victim (or the victim's family) can go to the Federal government for justice. The investigation could get taken over by the FBI, much like kidnapping cases are taken over by the FBI.

To get back to the Matthew Shepard case the local law enforcement dept wanted the federal government to take over the case but because we have no federal hate crime law and they had no state hate crime law, the FBI was not legally able to get involved.

One of the main reasons the local police needed help was because of a serious LACK OF MONEY. In the Matthew Shepard case, people in the police dept were actually laid off from their jobs (and some worked for free) just so they could scrape together enough money to investigate the crime properly, according to accounts that I have read.

It was a small, rural police dept with little experience at murder investigation. They wanted to bring in expert investigators, have evidence sent to FBI labs, where they have experts who see that kind of crime evidence all the time, just so that the case wouldn't get messed up.

But they weren't allowed to do that and the FBI wasn't allowed to help them. Their hands were tied. Wouldn't it have been terrible if those murderers had been allowed to go free because something in the case got messed up due to lack of money?

When you have a local police dept in a case that gets that much international media coverage ASKING for a federal help and stating that they need a Federal (or at least a state) HCL, I think we should listen.

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ALSO... with a federal HCL ... -- Lance, 09:03:02 06/12/03 Thu