About 1,700 Reasons Why We Needed Hate Crimes Legislation

by Michael Jones · 2009-11-24 07:02:00 UTC
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Hate CrimesThe FBI just released statistics documenting hate-motivated violence for last year, and their numbers show a rapid increase in the number of hate crimes committed based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

In all, the FBI notes that 1,706 victims of hate crimes in 2008 were targeted solely because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. And that right there provides at least 1,706 reasons why it was absolutely critical for President Obama to sign hate crimes legislation into law earlier this Fall. That figure is an eleven percent increase in the number of hate crimes committed based on sexual orientation and gender identity from the previous year, and caps off a three-year period where hate crimes committed toward LGBT folks have continued to rise.

The Matthew Shepard Foundation, which fought for more than ten years to pass expanded hate crimes laws, said that while statistics can be complicated, the increase in violent crime committed toward LGBT people can't be ignored.

"While it is important to respect the cautions voiced by statistical analysts, the continuing, steady emergence of extremely violent anti-LGBT hate crimes in recent weeks also argues in favor of taking the increase seriously and redoubling prevention efforts," said Jason Marsden, Executive Director of the Matthew Shepard Foundation.

Last week, an entry on Change.org's Criminal Justice blog suggested that hate crimes laws actually do more harm than good, and don't really prevent violent crime from happening. In the face of evidence that shows rapidly rising rates of violence committed toward LGBT people -- all during years where there were no federal hate crimes protections for sexual orientation or gender identity -- it just doesn't seem like that argument carries any water.

Twenty-six state Attorneys General endorsed hate crimes legislation, citing the importance of such laws to decrease rates of violent crime toward targeted groups. Popular support for passing hate crimes laws reached peaks of nearly 70 percent. And more than 300 organizations -- including the International Association of Chiefs of Police, National District Attorneys Association, Presbyterian Church, Episcopal Church, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Young Women’s Christian Association and National Disability Rights Network -- all supported efforts to expand federal hate crimes laws, believing that they were the best way to deal with rising rates of violent crime committed toward groups like LGBT people. That's an awful lot of legal expertise.

As the Human Rights Campaign notes, "Every hour, a crime motivated by the perpetrator’s bias against the victim occurs in the United States." In the time it takes you to commute to work, someone is targeted for a crime because of bias. That's nuts.

But it's also the reason why those that oppose hate crimes legislation need to pony up real evidence to show that they might not work. Doing nothing to address crimes motivated by bias is simply not an option.

(Photo courtesy of Zitona's photostream on Flickr.)

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
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