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Clinton urges expansion of hate crime law
April 6, 1999 WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, April 6) -- President Bill Clinton urged Congress Tuesday morning to expand the list of hate crimes covered under federal law to include cases involving sexual orientation. "The Hate Crimes Prevention Act would be important substantively and symbolically to send a message to ourselves and to the world that we are going into the 21st century determined to preach and to practice what is right," Clinton said during a Roosevelt Room ceremony.
Clinton also directed that colleges be required to report campus hate crimes each year. The president laid-out a public-private partnership designed to educate middle school students against intolerance. In Clinton's proposed hate crimes legislation, current law would be expanded so the Justice Department could prosecute crimes based on a person's gender, sexual orientation or disability. Only crimes based on a victim's race or religion can currently be prosecuted as hate crimes. The death of gay college student Matthew Shepard in Wyoming last year would have fallen into the new category of federal hate crimes. Yesterday, Russell Henderson, one of two men charged in Shepard's beating death, changed his plea to guilty, avoiding the death penalty. Sponsors of the expanded hate crime law hope that outrage over such highly publicized killings will fuel support for the measure this time around. The president drew parallels to what he called the religious and ethnic persecution ongoing in Kosovo. He said the U.S. had a responsibility to try to stop the violence there, but American also "must always be working on ourselves." "It's very humbling, I think, for those of us who think we have brought the modern world and prosperity and rationality to all of human affairs, to see what is going on in the Balkans, and to see these terrible examples of violence here in our own country," Clinton said. "We should remember that each of us almost wakes up every day with the scales of light and darkness in our own hearts, and we've got to keep them in proper balance. And we have to be in the United States absolutely resolute about this. That's why I think this hate crimes issue is so important." Last year the president's proposed initiative died in committee in both the House and Senate. It has been re-introduced by a bipartisan group of lawmakers that includes Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-Massachusetts) and Arlen Specter (R-Pennsylvania) and Reps. John Conyers (D-Michigan) and Connie Morella (R-Maryland). Clinton called for more bipartisan support to pass the measure: "We're not talking about everybody agreeing with everybody else on every political issue. We're talking about whether people have a right, if they show up and work hard and obey the law and are good citizens, to pursue their lives in dignity ... without fear of being abused. And this should not be a partisan issue." The bill is also aimed at making the federal prosecution of hate crimes easier. Current law limits prosecution to situations where the victim is targeted for engaging in certain federally protected activities, such as serving on a jury, voting or attending public school. More than 40 states have hate crimes laws but only 21 cover sexual orientation, 22 cover gender and 21 cover disability. Clinton praised the public-private partnership outreach program for middle schoolers. The program will "talk about tolerance. Why it is a moral, as well a practical imperative." Under the partnership, AT&T, CourtTV, Cable in the Classroom, the National Middle Schools Association and the Anti-Defamation League will work with the Departments of Justice and Education to develop curricula to combat intolerance. Under the president's directive, the Justice and Education departments will require colleges and universities to provide specific information about hate crimes in the campus crime statistics they provide to law enforcement each year. |
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MORE STORIES:Tuesday, April 6, 1999
• Gore resumes contact with Primakov; launches campaign Web site • Clinton urges expansion of hate crime law • Transcript: Clinton speaks on hate crimes • Missouri refuses to toss out ban on concealed guns • Jurors get mixed instructions on McDougal's criticism of Starr • Jesse Jackson asks Yugoslavs for U.S. captives' release • Kennedys to open Camelot's summer home to big donors • Hawk kills duck on White House lawn • Justice hires consultant for tobacco case • Refugee issues not new to Clinton • Whitewater figure Hale sentenced to three weeks in prison • Judge dismisses case in alleged plot to kill Reno • Bush finds 'different intensity' in presidential politics • High tech executives back Bush candidacy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
