[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 80 (Thursday, June 22, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Page S5649]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                              HATE CRIMES

  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I rise to commend the passage of the 
bipartisan Kennedy-Smith Amendment--the Local Law Enforcement Act of 
2000. The Senate's consideration of this important measure was long 
overdue and its passage is one of the major civil rights victories of 
this century.
  We are all aware of the tragic deaths of James Byrd in Texas and 
Matthew Shepard in Wyoming. James Byrd was murdered because of the 
color of his skin. Matthew Shepard was murdered because of his sexual 
orientation.
  In the Byrd killing, the federal government could help.
  In the Shepard killing, the federal government could not help local 
law enforcement. Why? Because our current hate crimes statute is full 
of holes and desperately needs to be updated.
  Right now the federal hate crimes law does not cover disability, 
gender or sexual orientation. In addition, the federal government can 
prosecute only those crimes where the victim was chosen because he or 
she was engaged in a ``federally protected activity,'' such as 
attending public school or serving as a juror. That is a very narrow 
basis on which to bring a lawsuit.
  Because Matthew Shepard was killed because he was gay, the federal 
government could not provide the resources Laramie, Wyoming's law 
enforcement so desperately needed. This is why our federal hate crimes 
law ought to apply whenever a hate crime occurs.
  Last year Dennis and Judy Shepard, Matthew's parents, came to Capitol 
Hill to plead with us to broaden the hate crimes law. I suspect that no 
Senator who met them will ever forget their words or the anguish in 
their eyes. It was an anguish that probably only a parent who has lost 
a child can possibly understand.
  During their visit to Capitol Hill, and all across America, the 
Shepards have found the strength to talk about their own tragic 
experience to help prevent other parents from experiencing their 
nightmare. Had we not passed the Kennedy-Smith Amendment we would have 
been ignoring their pleas, and the pleas of so many others.
  The Kennedy-Smith Amendment will end, once and for all, the 
contortions that federal prosecutors must undertake to exercise 
jurisdiction over hate crimes. The Hatch Amendment will not.
  The Kennedy-Smith Amendment will allow federal authorities to assist 
in state and local prosecutions of hate crimes on the basis of 
disability, gender and sexual orientation. The Hatch Amendment will 
not.
  We don't need to collect more data on hate crimes. We don't need to 
analyze the problem. We need to solve it.
  We already collect information on hate crimes and the statistics are 
grim. In the last year for which we have statistics, 1998, almost 8,000 
hate crime incidents were reported.
  And we already know that state and local law enforcement needs our 
help because they have told us so. The National Sheriff's Association 
has told us so. The International Association of Police Chiefs has told 
us so. Both the Sheriff and Police Commander of Laramie, Wyoming have 
urged us to pass the Kennedy-Smith Amendment. The Laramie Sheriff and 
Police Commander came with Dennis and Judy Shepard to Capitol Hill. 
They told us what it meant for their departments to be without the 
assistance of the federal government in investigating and prosecuting 
Matthew Shepard's murder. It meant that they had to lay off 5 law 
enforcement officials as a result of the financial strain of the 
prosecution of Matthew Shepard's killers.
  If the Kennedy-Smith Amendment had been law, those officers would not 
have been laid off.
  We all know that only the Kennedy-Smith Amendment will bring about 
substantial change. We all know that only the Kennedy-Smith Amendment 
will provide law enforcement, in places like Laramie, Wyoming, the 
tools they need to investigate and prosecute hate crimes wherever they 
occur. We all know that only the Kennedy-Smith Amendment will send a 
strong message that the federal government will prosecute every hate 
crime with vigor.
  I am proud that this Senate has now stood with Dennis and Judy 
Shepard. I am proud this Senate did not let the politics of 
misunderstanding keep us from enacting a bill that would enable 
prosecutions of crimes motivated by hatred of gays and lesbians--the 
motivation for some of the most vicious hate crimes.
  There are those who argued that this amendment was not needed because 
it only affects a small percentage of Americans. I am troubled by this 
suggestion. Hate crimes diminish us all. Did this Congress say, in 
1965, that we didn't need a Civil Rights Act because racial 
discrimination ``only'' affected a small percentage of Americans? No. 
We are talking about basic protections that all Americans should be 
afforded. If they are denied to any of us, we are all affected.
  We must make sure that the federal government leaves no American 
unprotected. The Kennedy-Smith Amendment is a bipartisan, reasonable, 
measured response to a serious problem. Now we must ensure that it 
becomes law.

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