The Push for Homeless Hate Crime Protection Intensifies

by Shannon Moriarty · 2008-10-22 19:52:00 UTC
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[Picture: A memorial service for John McGraham in LA.]

Last week, John McGraham, a homeless man who lived on the streets of LA, was brutally murdered when he was doused in gasoline and set on fire. His tragic death has stirred the LA community and renewed the movement to include homeless people in the categories covered by federal hate crime legislation. 

According to a Time Magazine article, homeless people are much more vulnerable to fatal attacks than individuals in groups currently protected by hate crime legislations (bias-motivated violence and intimidation against individuals based on their sexual orientation, race, or religion). Here's some food for thought:

 

  • 1 in 4 attacks reported against the homeless end fatally, whereas 1 in 10 attacks reported against other hate-crime-protected groups end fatally
  • In 2006, the last year that FBI figures are available for hate crime fatalities, three individuals in the protected classes were killed versus 20 homeless individuals.

 

The Time article describes the effort to include homelessness in the populations covered by federal hate crime legislation and the implications if it passes:

 

Hence, there is a movement to get them covered by existing hate crime legislation. The Coalition and Law Center are lobbying members of Congress to pass two bills, sponsored by Texas Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, which would amend two Hate Crime acts. The first bill, H.R. 2216, introduced in Congress on May 8, 2007 seeks to amend the Hate Crime Statistics Act to include crimes against the homeless. This would require the FBI to collect data on crimes against the homeless — data sorely needed by homeless advocates — in order to determine if they are hate-motivated attacks. The second bill, H.R. 2217, introduced on the same date, seeks to include the homeless in the list of classes protected under the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994. Both bills have been referred to the House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security.

Foscarinis says the legislation proposed seeks to increase the punishment for hate crimes against the homeless by three offense levels. "At the same time we are lobbying for real solutions, which are housing and social services for homeless people, we have to make sure their lives and dignity are respected," says Foscarinis. "The point of hate crime legislation to act as a deterrent. It becomes a more serious crime when it's considered a hate crime and there is a harsher sentence that's imposed. We want to send a message that homeless people's lives are just as valuable as anyone else's life."

 

Shannon Moriarty has worked in various homeless shelters and service organizations around the country. She is a graduate student studying housing and urban policy at Tufts University.
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