Rep. Andrews Takes a Stand Against Hate Crimes

Recently, I became an original cosponsor of a vital piece of legislation that will help the Justice Department and local law enforcement officials to prosecute hate crimes.  HR 1592, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007, will reduce the currently onerous requirements in federal hate crimes law that has limited prosecutors’ ability to prosecute people for committing violent crimes motivated by hatred or bigotry.  Since 1991, over 113,000 hate crimes have been documented by the FBI, including 7,163 in 2005 alone.  In each of these cases, a person was the victim of a violent crime because of their race, religion, sexual orientation, gender, ethnicity, or disability.  HR 1592 will provide federal assistance to reduce the prevalence of these crimes and better prosecute those responsible.

This legislation will still require the federal government to defer to state and local authorities in prosecuting most of these criminal cases, but it will allow federal assistance to support local prosecutions in appropriate circumstances.  It will also permit the Attorney General to make grants to state and local law enforcement agencies to support their efforts in combating hate crimes.  Additionally, HR 1592 contains important provisions protecting First Amendment rights of the accused, and does not restrict public speech or writing in any way. 

The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007 is a much needed piece of legislation.  While we have made great strides, there are still far too many violent crimes in our country caused by an attacker’s bigotry or hatred.  That is why I became an original cosponsor of HR 1592, and will fight hard to bring this bill to the floor for a vote.

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