Hate Crimes Bill Dealt a Blow
By Jason Ma

Reaction was harsh last week after a joint House-Senate conference committee dropped from the Commerce, Justice, State Appropriations Act, a provision for an expanded federal hates crimes law, which would have made it easier for the federal government to prosecute perpetrators of hate crimes.

Current federal hate crimes laws only protect against crimes motivated by race, religion or national origin and requires prosecutors to prove that the perpetrator intended to prevent a victim from exercising one of six federally protected activities related to school attendance, voting rights and serving on a jury.

The new hate crimes bill, passed by the whole Senate but not by the House, would have expanded protection to include gays and lesbians, the disabled and women beyond the itemized list of protected activities.

“It’s pretty outrageous,” said Victor Hwang of the Asian Law Caucus. “It just sends the wrong message that the federal government wouldn’t be doing anything. It’s a real slap in the face.”

But the Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 1999 could still be revived. President Clinton vetoed the appropriations bill on Monday, citing reasons unrelated to the act, such as lack of funding for United Nations dues and arrears.

As a result of the veto, Congress will have to deliberate on a new version of the bill, in which the hate crimes prevention act could be reintroduced, said Aryani Ong, legal fellow at the National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium. In addition, the act could be attached as an amendment to any other bill or introduced as a “stand alone” bill.

“We hope that the President makes clear that Congress should reverse their decision,” Ong said. “We supporters hope that the President demand restoration as a condition.”

The original sponsor of the hate crimes act, U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., plans to attach it as an amendment onto another appropriations bill or onto the budget omnibus bill if Congress decides to pass all the appropriations bills, according to spokesperson Will Kuyser.

Hwang said the slaying of Asian Americans Joseph Ileto in Granada Hills, Calif. and Won-Joon Yoon in southern Illinois are not being prosecuted as federal hate crimes because they do not meet the current requirements. Since 1991, the Department of Justice prosecuted only 37 cases, despite the FBI reporting more than 50,000 bias-motivated crimes.

Moreover, considering the loose interpretation of inter-state commerce laws -- the linchpin of most federal cases -- Hwang said government agencies could prosecute hate crimes more aggressively if the current conditions were expanded.

“The FBI could prosecute anything if they really wanted to,” he said. “When the federal government wants to get involved, they get involved in everything. There’s nothing these days that doesn’t affect other states.”

After separate House and Senate versions of the appropriations bill for the Commerce, Justice and State Departments passed, the joint House-Senate committee met to resolve differences between the two versions to send to President Clinton for his approval.

While the House had dropped a hate crimes resolution from its version, the Senate passed the appropriations bill with the expanded hate crimes provisions included in it, according to Ong. In addition, U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, added a competing hate crimes bill that was less far-reaching.

Hatch’s proposal would have extended federal protection to those covered by state laws, required a study of hate crime prosecution effectiveness and amended current laws to include hate crimes where state lines have been crossed, according to a Senate Judiciary Committee spokesperson Jeanne Lopatto.

However, during negotiations of the joint committee, which took place behind closed doors, both hate crime bills were dropped.

U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye , D-Hawaii, was on the joint committee and said through spokesperson Sandi Skousen that he had voted to support Kennedy’s hate crimes prevention act, but declined to “finger-point” by identifying those who did not.

Hwang pointed out that the current laws were passed in the late 1960s in the throes of the civil rights movement. As a result, they are geared toward preventing hate crimes committed by white supremacists against African Americans in the South who were fighting for their right to vote.

Since many states do not have laws against certain hate crimes -- Wyoming is not prosecuting Matthew Shepard’s murder as a hate crime -- the need for an expansive law is necessary, Hwang added. Pointing out that the Texas dragging murder of an African American man in 1998 was the only hate crime in the past year that the federal government is prosecuting, Hwang said the confirmation of acting Attorney General for Civil Rights Bill Lann Lee is that much more urgent. “If we had someone who was more aggressive, we’d have more hate crimes prosecutions.”