[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 72 (Thursday, May 26, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6037-S6038]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. KENNEDY (for himself, Mr. Specter, Mr. Smith, Mr. Leahy, 
        Ms. Collins, Mr. Lieberman, Ms. Snowe, Mr. Wyden, Mr. Jeffords, 
        Mr. Schumer, Mr. Chafee, Mr. Akaka, Mr. Ensign, Mr. Bayh, Mr. 
        Biden, Mr. Bingaman, Mrs. Boxer, Ms. Cantwell, Mrs. Clinton, 
        Mr. Coleman, Mr. Corzine, Mr. Dayton, Mr. Dodd, Mr. Durbin, 
        Mrs. Feinstein, Mr. Harkin, Mr. Inouye, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Kerry, 
        Ms. Landrieu, Mr. Levin, Mrs. Lincoln, Ms. Mikulski, Mrs. 
        Murray, Mr. Nelson of Nebraska, Mr. Nelson of Florida, Mr. 
        Obama, Mr. Reed, Mr. Salazar, Mr. Sarbanes, Ms. Stabenow, Mr. 
        Lautenberg, Mr. Pryor, and Mr. Rockefeller):
  S. 1145. A bill to provide Federal assistance to States and local 
jurisdictions to prosecute hate crimes; to the Committee on the 
Judiciary.
  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, hate crimes are a violation of everything 
our country stands for. They send the poisonous message that some 
Americans deserve to be victimized solely because of who they are. 
They're basically acts of domestic terrorism. Hate crimes have an 
impact far greater than the impact on their individual victim. They're 
crimes against entire communities, against the whole Nation, and 
against the fundamental ideals on which America was founded.
  The vast majority of Congress agrees. Last year, Senator Smith and I 
offered the same measure. The Senate passed it as an amendment to the 
Defense Authorization Bill by a nearly 2-1 bi-partisan vote of 65-33. 
By a vote of 213-186, the House instructed its conferees to support it 
in the conference report on the bill. Unfortunately, House leaders 
insisted that the provision be dropped in conference. This week, 
Senator Smith and I are introducing the identical bill.
  The provision is supported by a broad coalition of law enforcement 
and civil rights groups, including the National Sheriff's Association, 
the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the Anti-Defamation 
League, and the National Center for Victims of Crime, and I'm 
optimistic the bill would have the same broad support it did before. 
Those who commit hate crimes prey on the vulnerable and terrorize them, 
because they can't protect themselves. If our Nation stands for 
anything, it's to protect the vulnerable.
  We know that hate crimes are a serious problem that continues to 
plague us. According to FBI statistics, over 9,000 people were victims 
of hate crimes reported in the United States in 2003. That's almost 25 
people victimized a day, every day, based on their race, religion, 
sexual orientation, ethnic background, or disability. Sadly, these 
F.B.I. statistics show only part of the problem, because many hate 
crimes go unreported. The Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit 
organization that monitors hate groups and extremist activity, 
estimates that the actual number of hate crimes committed in the United 
States each year is closer to 50,000.
  Congress can't ignore the problem. Our bill will strengthen the 
ability of Federal, State, and local governments to investigate and 
prosecute these vicious and senseless crimes. Current Federal law, 
obviously isn't adequate to protect our citizens.
  It contains excessive restrictions requiring proof that victims were 
attacked because they were engaged in certain ``federally protected 
activities.'' It doesn't include violence committed because of person's 
sexual orientation, gender, or disability. It covers only hate crimes 
based on race, religion, or ethnic background.
  The federally protected activity requirement is outdated, unwise, and 
unnecessary. In June 2003, three men saw 6 Latino teenagers in a family 
restaurant on Long Island. The teenagers, 3 boys and 3 girls, between 
13-15 years old, knew each other from church and baseball teams. They 
were there together to celebrate the birthday of one of the girls, 
whose parents made her take her 13 year old sister along as 
``chaperone.'' A parent dropped them all off in his mini-van and 
promised to pick them up after dinner and a movie. But, moments after 
leaving, he received a panicked phone call from one of the children, 
telling him they'd been attacked.
  As the group entered the restaurant, three men were leaving the bar, 
after drinking there for hours. For no apparent reason, they assaulted 
the teenagers, pummeling one boy and severing a tendon in his hand with 
a sharp weapon. During the attack, the men screamed racial slurs and 
one identified himself as a skinhead. The children, who had never 
experienced anything like this, have been traumatized ever since.
  Two of the defendants were tried under current Federal law for 
committing a hate crime and were acquitted. The Jurors said they 
acquitted them because the government had not proved the attack took 
place because the victims were engaged in a federally protected 
activity--using the restaurant.
  The bill we introduce today eliminates the federally protected 
activity requirement. Under this bill, these defendants who walked out 
of the front door of the courthouse free that day would almost 
certainly have left in handcuffs through a different door.
  The bill also recognizes that hate crimes are committed against 
people because of their sexual orientation, their gender, and their 
disability. Current Federal law didn't protect gay campers in Honolulu 
from attempted murder when their tents were doused

[[Page S6038]]

with a flammable liquid and set on fire because they were gay.
  It didn't protect Brandon Teena, in Humboldt, NE who was raped and 
beaten by two male friends when they discovered that he was living as a 
male but was anatomically female. The local sheriff refused to arrest 
the offenders, and they later shot and stabbed Brandon to death.
  Current law did not protect a 23-year-old mentally disabled man in 
Port Monmouth, New Jersey who was kidnapped by 9 men and women and 
tortured for three hours before being dumped in the woods because he 
was disabled.
  Our bill will close all these flagrant loopholes. In addition to 
removing the federally protected activity requirement and expanding the 
class of protected people:
  The bill protects State interests with a strict certification 
procedure that requires the Federal Government to consult with local 
officials before bringing a Federal case.
  It offers Federal assistance to help State and local law enforcement 
investigate and prosecute hate crimes in any of the categories.
  It offers training grants for local law enforcement.
  It amends the Federal Hate Crime Statistics Act to add gender to the 
existing categories of race, religion, ethnic background, sexual 
orientation, and disability.
  A strong Federal role in prosecuting hate crimes is essential for 
practical and symbolic reasons. In practical terms, the bill will have 
a real world impact on actual criminal investigations and prosecutions 
by State and Federal officials.
  The presence or absence of the ``federally protected activity'' 
requirement frequently determines whether state and local resources 
must be used to prosecute these crimes or whether the Federal 
Government can bring its full weight to bear on the case.
  Hate crime investigations tend to be expensive, requiring 
considerable law enforcement legwork and extensive use of investigative 
grand juries. State officials regularly seek federal assistance in 
bringing hate crime offenders to justice under current law. This bill 
expands the opportunity for the Justice Department to provide that 
support.
  Our bill fully respects the primary role of State and local law 
enforcement in responding to violent crime. The vast majority of hate 
crimes will continue to be prosecuted at the state and local level. The 
bill authorizes the Justice Department to assist state and local 
authorities in hate crimes cases, it authorizes Federal prosecutions 
only when a State does not have jurisdiction, or when it asks the 
Federal Government to take jurisdiction, or when it fails to act 
against hate-motivated violence.
  In other words, the bill establishes an appropriate back-up for State 
and local law enforcement to deal with hate crimes in cases where 
states request assistance, or cases that would not otherwise be 
effectively investigated and prosecuted.
  The symbolic value of the bill is equally important. Hate crimes 
target whole communities, not just individuals. They are intended to 
send messages of fear that extend beyond the moment and beyond the 
individual victim of the attack. Attacking people because they are gay, 
or African-American, or Jewish, or any other criteria in the bill is 
bigotry at its worst. Hate crimes are designed to de-humanize and 
diminish, and we must say loud and clear to those inclined to commit 
them that they'll go to prison if they do.
  The vast majority of us in Congress recognized the importance of 
making that statement last year. This year, we can make the statement 
even louder, by turning this bill into law.
  Mr. SMITH. Mr. President, as I have done so many times before, I rise 
today to speak about the need for hate crimes legislation and to 
introduce the Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act of 2005. I first 
sponsored this bill with my colleague, Senator Kennedy, in 1999 and 
again in 2001 and 2003.
  In the Senate, this legislation passed as an amendment to the 
Commerce, Justice, State appropriations bill in 1999 and the Defense 
Department authorization bill in 2000 and 2004, but removed in 
conference in each case. In 2003, it was introduced as an amendment to 
the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, but did not pass due to a 
procedural vote. Clearly, hate crimes legislation has strong support in 
the Senate.
  Senator Kennedy and I are reintroducing this bill again today because 
the need for Federal hate crimes legislation is greater than ever. The 
high prevalence of hate crimes is staggering. Every day there is 
another America that is attacked or even murdered in an act solely 
motivated by hate.
  Hate crimes tear at the very fabric of our Nation by intimidating 
entire groups of Americans and creating fear across communities. No one 
in America should be victimized because of who they are, how they look, 
or what religion they worship. And the Federal Government should be 
able to come to the aid of those who have been wronged and protect 
victims.
  Since 1969, Federal law has permitted prosecution of hate crimes 
motivated by race, religion, national origin, or color, if the victim 
was engaging in one of six ``Federally protected'' activities. It has 
become clear that the statue needs to be amended--and that is what our 
legislation does. Our legislation would expand on current laws to 
encompass sexual orientation, gender and disability. It would enable 
Federal prosecutors to pursue hate crimes cases where local authorities 
often lack the resources or the ability to prosecute such crimes.
  Nobel laureate Eli Wiesel once said: ``To hate is to deny another 
person's humanity.'' As a Nation that serves as the beacon of justice, 
freedom and liberty everywhere, we simply cannot tolerate violence 
against our own citizens based on their race, color, religion, or 
national origin. No matter how far the United States has come and the 
progress we have made in protecting American's civil rights, much work 
remains. We cannot fight terror abroad and bow down to terror at home.
  This legislation is a symbol that can become substance. As I have 
often said, the law is a teacher, and we should teach our fellow 
Americans that bigotry will not be tolerated. Our government must have 
the ability to persuade, to pursue, and to prosecute when hate is the 
motive of violence against another American, no matter their race, 
sexual orientation, religion, disability, or gender. By changing the 
law, I truly believe we can change hearts and minds as well.
  I urge my colleagues to help me to change the hearts and minds and to 
make it widely known that we live in a society and a country that does 
not tolerate those who impose on the civil rights of others simply 
because they are different.
  This year, Congress needs to act. I look forward to President Bush 
signing this legislation into law.
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