OCA ENDORSES BIPARTISAN ANTI-HATE CRIME LEGISLATION
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
3 February 2020
Contact: Maddie Schumacher | Policy Associate
202.223.5500 | maddie.schumacher@ocanational.org
Washington, DC - OCA - Asian Pacific American Advocates joins Senators Amy Klobuchar and Lisa Murkowski as one of their first endorsements for the ‘Justice for Victims of Hate Crimes Act’. This critical legislation closes an enforcement loophole in the 2009 Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, to ensure that victims of hate crimes get the full justice they deserve.
Since the Hate Crimes Prevention Act’s passage in 2009, federal courts have disagreed on the law’s requirements to classify a crime as a hate crime. In 2014, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals required prosecutors to prove that bias was the sole motivation for a hate crime, rather than one of multiple motives; establishing a standard that is difficult to prove. As a result, it has been harder to prosecute perpetrators if defendants are able to show there were multiple motives in committing the crime in question. According to the FBI, attacks motivated by bias were at their highest in 16 years in 2018. Further, reports show that nearly 60% of hate crime victims were targeted because of their race, ethnicity, or ancestry.
The Justice for Victims of Hate Crimes Act amends the law so that prosecutors only need to prove that bias was a substantial motivating factor, a less restrictive standard to demonstrate in court. The strengthened law will give federal enforcement the tools they need to successfully prosecute hate crimes. We call on Senators to unite across the aisle on this piece of legislation.
“As a former civil rights hearing referee, litigator, and civil rights activist, I know that it would be very difficult under the current law to ever identify racial animus as a sole motivation of a crime,” says VP of Public Affairs Roland Hwang, “Especially as our nation experiences a rise in hate crimes, it is more important than ever that we get survivors the justice they deserve. Closing this legal loophole brings us closer to that goal.”
OCA – Asian Pacific American Advocates is a national civil rights organization dedicated to improving the social, political, and economic well-being of Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs).
###