Civil Rights

Ending Hate Crimes

More than 50,000 hate crimes were reported during the years 1991 through 1997.  Congress defines hate crime as " a crime in which the defendant intentionally selects a victim, or in the case of a property crime, the property that is the object of the crime, because of the actual or perceived race, color, national origin, ethnicity, gender, disability, or sexual orientation of any person."  It is directed at persons because of a particular characteristic- race, religion, sexual orientation, gender, & disability. Hate violence is characterized by excessive brutality, in which extreme force is used to intentionally inflict pain on the victim.  Because of the brutal nature of hate violence, victims often suffer severe or fatal injuries.  Hate violence intended to send a message that provokes fear, and thus is terrorist in nature.

The Congresswoman feels that all Americans have a stake in an effective response to violent bigotry. Hate crimes are different from other forms of violence because by their very nature, hate crimes have a special emotional impact on entire communities. They are intended to intimidate entire groups of people and make them fearful. Because of the extremely negative impact hate crimes have on our entire society, they deserve special consideration in the law. Anti-hate crime penalties and programs enacted through legislation can help protect victims and deter further bias-motivate crimes.

Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson is a co-sponsor of H.R. 1082, the Hate Crimes Prevention Act. The act makes it easier for federal authorities to assist in the prosecution of racial, religious, and ethnic violence. It has 191 co-sponsors. Congresswoman Johnson has worked to push the Republican leadership to bring the measure to a vote. The Hate Crimes Prevention Act will also plug loopholes in state law. Ten states currently have no hate crime laws.

Congresswoman Johnson was also a supporter of  The Hate Crimes Sentencing Enhancement Act. This measure was enacted into law as Section 280003 of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994. The provision directed the United States Sentencing Commission to provide a sentencing enhancement of "not less than 3 offense levels for offenses that the finder of fact at trial determines beyond a reasonable doubt are hate crimes." It defined a hate crime as "a crime in which the defendant intentionally selects a victim, or in the case of a property crime, the property that is the object of the crime, because of the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, gender, disability, or sexual orientation of any person." This measure, the Federal counterpart for state hate crime penalty-enhancement statutes, applies, to attacks and vandalism which occur in national parks and on other Federal property. In May 1995, the United States Sentencing Commission announced its implementation of a three-level sentencing guidelines increase for hate crimes, as directed by Congress. This amendment took effect on November 1, 1995.

Congresswoman Johnson was especially disturbed by the rash of attacks against houses of worship in the mid-1990's.  According to Justice Department officials, from January 1, 1995, to August 18, 1998, DOJ has opened 658 investigations of suspicious fires, bombings, and attempted bombings, and has made arrests in 225 of these incidents, involving 301 subjects. Of the 658 attacks directed against houses of worship, 220 were predominately African-American institutions.

Congresswoman Johnson strongly supported legislation to help the federal government halt the church burnings and provide justice for the victims.  During hearings on the matter, Federal prosecutors testified that the statute's restrictive interstate commerce requirement and its relatively significant damages threshold had been obstacles to Federal prosecutions. As a result of the hearings, Congress found that "the incidence of arson of places of religious worship has recently increased, especially in the context of places of religious worship that serve predominately African-American congregations." Both the House and the Senate unanimously passed legislation to  broaden existing Federal criminal jurisdiction and facilitated criminal prosecutions for attacks against houses of worship, increased penalties for these crimes, established a loan guarantee recovery fund for rebuilding, and authorized additional personnel for Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, the FBI, Justice Department prosecutors, and the Justice Department's Community Relations Service to "investigate, prevent, and respond" to these incidents and continue authorization of the Hate Crimes Statistics Act.

The FBI documented a total of 4,558 hate crimes in 1991, reported from almost 2,800 police departments in 32 states. The FBI's report for 1996, documented 8,759 hate crimes reported by 11,355 agencies across the country. The FBI report indicated that about 63 percent of the reported hate crimes were race-based, with 14 percent committed against individuals on the basis of their religion, 11 percent on the basis of ethnicity, and 12 percent on the basis of sexual orientation. Approximately 42 percent of the reported crimes were anti-Black, 13 percent of the crimes were anti-White. The 1,109 crimes against Jews and Jewish institutions comprised almost 13 percent of the totaL, and 79 percent of the reported hate crimes based on religion.

Four percent of the crimes were anti-Asian, and just over 6 percent were anti-Hispanic. In 1998, 7,755 hate crime incidents were reported, representing 46 states and the District of Columbia [source- FBI]. That is almost one for every hour of every day that year.

Of the 7,755 incidents reported in 1998, 4,321 incidents were motivated by racial bias, 1,390 by religious bias and 1,260 by sexual orientation bias. Fifty-five percent of hate crime incidents in 1998 were intimidation attempts. Of the known criminals related to hate crimes in 1998, 66% were white and 17% were black. Forty-eight percent of hate crimes reported in 1998 involved unknown offenders.

Approximately 160 churches have been damaged by arson since the 1995. 90 of those churches were black churches [source- U.S. Commission on Civil Rights].

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