Utahn backs hate-crimes bill

WASHINGTON — A pending federal hate crimes bill would help states protect people better and should be passed Utah Attorney General Mark L. Shurtleff told the House Judiciary Committee Tuesday, but other experts argued the bill is not needed at all.

The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007 would outlaw injuring someone based on his or her race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability at any time.

Some critics says this gives gay citizens unneeded extra protection and can lead to limiting religious speech of those who believe homosexuality is wrong, while others said the legislation might actually cause more problems as opposed to stopping them.

But Shurtleff said he and the 25 other state attorneys general who support the bill are not asking Congress to "punish thought," but to punish criminal conduct proven to be directly linked to bias against one of the groups protected under the law.

Under current law, the Justice Department can only prosecute hate crimes cases if the victim is engaged in a federally protected activity, like voting, according to Shurtleff's testimony. The pending bill would allow the federal government to prosecute suspected hate crimes no matter what the victim was doing when the crime took place.

"Removing this outmoded jurisdictional barrier to federal prosecution of hate crimes is critical to protecting our citizen's fundamental civil rights," according to Shurtleff's testimony, "Hate crimes have lead to the polarization of communities, increases in security needs at schools and churches, declines in property values and the creation of an overall atmosphere of fear and distrust."

Shurtleff's pointed to Utah's own hate crime law, which he called "a good start" but that he would like to see federal protection to help citizens.

But Timothy Lynch, director of the Project on Criminal Justice at the Cato Institute, told the House panel that the bill is "counterproductive."

"I believe it will actually create more problems than it is going to solve," he said.

Lynch said he would rather see federal law enforcement focus on terrorism and homeland security issues. He also noted that the crimes prevent by the hate crimes bill are already illegal under other laws and people have been prosecuted for those crimes.