Hate-Crime Amendments Pass

By : http;//www.advocate.com

Amendments attached to the Defense Department reauthorization bill that would limit the extension of the federal hate-crimes law passed in the Senate on Monday afternoon.

The amendments were added by Alabama senator Jeff Sessions, the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, who gave a 50-minute floor speech on why current hate-crimes laws should not be extended to include gender identity and sexual orientation protections.

The Human Rights Campaign sent out an alert over the weekend after it became clear that Sessions was planning on attaching amendments to the bill. HRC called the attachments "poison pills" poised to "kill the bill," urging senators to vote it down.

The amendments require that hate crimes be identified and prosecuted on "a neutral and objective" basis, allow that the death penalty can be imposed on those who commit hate crimes resulting in death, and require heavier sentencing for attacks on military members and their families.

Another bill was passed by Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick Leahy that would limit hate-crimes prosecutions until a state's attorney general has established standards for applying the death penalty, according to the article.

Sessions argued that hate crimes appeared to be decreasing, and that the hate-crimes expansion bill -- known as the Matthew Shepard Act -- was attached to the Defense package too hastily.

"We need to be careful that statutes that become permanent parts of our criminal code are supported by evidence and principle," Sessions said. "I don’t think that our focus here is to deal with symbolic legislation that’s broad and could expand federal criminal jurisdiction beyond its historic role and where the facts do not support the need."