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• Monday, August 20, 2012
OPINION
Mary Stanfield, opinion editor Kayley Gillespie, assistant editor dailyopinion@ou.edu • phone: 405-325-3666 oudaily.com/opinion • Twitter: @OUDailyOpinion
QUOTABLE: “I don’t plan to comply with the ban entirely,” said Ike Charleston, chemical engineering sophomore, about the campus smoking ban that began July 1. (Page 1)
EDITORIAL: oklahoma hate crimes
OKC attack reveals gap in Okla. hate crime law
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Our View: Oklahoma must add currently
We don’t need hate crime laws. All crimes are motivated by hate.
unprotected groups to its existent hate crime laws. Kayla Elliott, an Oklahoma City resident, said she had been dealing with anti-gay remarks and harassment from her neighbor for months. On Aug. 14, she said those remarks turned violent. Elliott said her neighbor attacked her with a knife while screaming, “I’ll kill you” and “I’ll make you straight,” News 9 reported Saturday. Elliott was treated for defensive wounds and a gash on her head that required 18 stitches. Her neighbor has claimed she acted in self-defense. Elliott and her supporters are calling it a hate crime. The Our View But under current Oklahoma is the majority opinion of law, her case is not considered a The Daily’s hate crime. nine-member Current state laws define hate editorial board crimes as those based on “race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin or disability.” These laws must be expanded to parallel federal laws, which cover gender, sexual orientation and gender identity.
All crimes are not motivated by hate — at least not the kind of hate these laws refer to. Hate crimes might be better referred to as “bias crimes,” because they are defined as acts motivated by the perpetrator’s bias against a group. The perpetrator chooses the victim because of some aspect of his or her identity. Studies by the FBI and other criminal justice experts have shown these crimes to be more violent than other kinds of crime, often involving a mocking or dehumanization of the victim. Hate crime laws help secure justice for victims both through greater resources, federal oversight and a clear message that such crimes are unacceptable.
photos provided
Kayla Elliott, Oklahoma City resident, suffered a head wound requiring 18 stitches in an Aug. 14 attack.
than members of any other protected group in the nation. And according to a 2003 study in Criminal Justice and Behavior, hate crimes against GLBT individuals tend to be more vicious than other such crimes. It’s clear that this is a serious national problem — one that has manifested in the Oklahoma City area. All bias crimes are hate crimes The author of the National Coalition of AntiThe injustice inherent in protecting some groups and not others is clear from recent events. Violence Programs’ report said that the increase Elliott’s is just one of several recent crimes in the in reported fatal hate crimes may not represent an actual increase in violence, but merely a remetro area victims suspect were motivated by sult of better reporting since the bias: Matthew Shepard Act passed in • On July 21, Oklahoma City res2009. WHAT’S NEXT ident Jon Ferguson suffered secThis expansion of the federal laws Donate to Elliott ond- and third-degree burns when (adding sexual orientation, genhis car was set on fire after the word Contact OKC Pride: der and gender identity) gave law “fag” was spray painted across it. enforcement more of the training, • 405-466-LGBT • On Aug. 12, vandals shot the tools and funding necessary to inGrand Mosque of Oklahoma City • info@okcpride.org vestigate these crimes. with paint balls on the heels of But this is little comfort. If these • “Justice for Kayla” several violent anti-Muslim aton Facebook numbers truly do not represent an tacks across the country during the increase in violence, then they repIslamic holy month of Ramadan. resent a situation that has existed In the latter case, unlike in Elliott’s below the national radar for decades. or Ferguson’s case, police are free to pursue the It is only now that the nation has devoted the incident as a hate crime, because Oklahoma’s resources to investigating and prosecuting these hate crime laws specifically include attacks on crimes that the real level of violence against GLBT religious institutions. Americans can be understood. Should the former two cases be denied the extra resources, scrutiny and punishment afforded to the mosque vandalism simply because they are motivated by a different identity trait? Though no one can verify the specifics of these cases until their day in court, we do know that sexuality-based hate crimes happen here.
So why state laws?
Of course, with these additions to the federal laws, one might wonder why we need to worry about the state of hate crime laws here in Oklahoma. While the federal hate crime laws have already added some necessary protections for GLBT More vulnerable than ever individuals, the Oklahoma law could add stateIn 2010, four of the 14 reported level reporting of incidents, adhate crimes in Oklahoma City were ditional training for law enforcerelated to sexual orientation, and BY THE NUMBERS ment officers on how to identify and across the state, sexuality-based GLBT hate crimes handle such crimes, and tougher crimes were the second most prosentencing. fatal sexual lific, according to FBI data. Most importantly, expanding orientation And since that same FBI report based hate crimes in the state law would send a loud explains that hate crimes against 2011 message to every Oklahoman that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgenviolence is not tolerated here; that of hate der individuals are severely undercrimes in these attacks on GLBT citizens will reported, the real numbers are 2010 were based on not be ignored and will be prosesexual orientation, likely much higher — an estimated cuted to the fullest extent of the law; despite GLBT 20 to 30 times higher, according to a Americans only making that hate is not an Oklahoma value. 2005 Department of Justice report. up about 1.7 percent If you want to send a message to of the population. The need for added protection lawmakers that no group is the exhas grown increasingly dire over the hate crimes ception when it comes to protection last decade. based on from violence, go to OUDaily.com sexual orientation in Last year saw the most fatal hate Oklahoma in 2010 to sign the petition to add sexual crimes against GLBT Americans orientation, gender and gender Source: FBI data since the National Coalition of Antiidentity to the state’s hate crime Violence Programs began tracking laws. data in 1998. There were 30 murBut first, consider a donation to ders in 2011, three times the total help Elliott cover her legal and medical expenses for 2010. The Southern Poverty Law Center, an organiza- — to let her know that she is not alone and that tion that tracks hate crimes, has found that GLBT Sooners stand with her against hate.
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20%
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people are far more likely to suffer a hate crime
5 myths about hate crime laws that need busting
Comment on this at OUDaily.com
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Hate crime laws are “thought policing;” they violate freedom of speech and religious expression.
Hate crime laws criminalize the violent action that is motivated by bias, not the bias itself. The laws only apply when individuals or their property is physically attacked based on their real or perceived membership in a certain community. Writings, beliefs, religious sermons and hate speech is not criminalized under hate crime laws. Under Oklahoma hate crime laws, only speech that can be shown to have directly incited a violent act based on bias is criminalized as a hate crime.
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These acts are already illegal. There should be no difference between a hate-crime murder and others.
U.S. criminal law already treats different murders differently, often based on motive. The difference between first- and second-degree murder is the intent of the murderer. In some states, killing for hire leads to the death penalty. In others, killing witnesses can lead to the harshest punishment. The legal system has already determined that the motive of the perpetrator affects the nature of the crime, and thus the penalty. Harsher punishments for hate crimes reflect the fact that more serious harm comes from an assault motivated by bias. Attacks based on bias intimidate an entire community. In many areas, this compounds existing tensions, creating divides in the greater community that can have a serious societal impact. These crimes also perpetuate the idea that certain groups are given lower status in the local and national community. Strong, inclusive hate crime laws send a clear message that the community finds it unacceptable to victimize an individual on the basis of certain identity traits. It’s time Oklahoma sent a message of its own.
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Hate crime laws only protect minority groups, not the majority. They grant special privileges.
These laws identify and protect certain categories or identity traits, such as race or gender. They do not give special protection to certain communities, such as Native Americans. Despite the common argument to the contrary, hate crime charges have been brought against members of a minority attacking members of the majority. For example, if a black individual attacked a white individual on the basis of a racial prejudice, then a hate crimes charge could and should be brought against the attacker. The laws are intended to punish crimes based on bias against entire categories, not simply the minority groups in those categories. They do not increase the severity of the crime because of the traits of the victim, but because of the prejudice of the perpetrator. The law also applies to both real and perceived identity traits. If a straight man is assaulted because his attacker perceived him to be gay, the crime could still be prosecuted as a hate crime.
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These laws only perpetuate divisions between people.
These divisions along racial, religious, sexual and other lines already exists. It is a simple fact in our society. This is how the majority of Americans view the world; this is how members of minority groups experience the world. Hate crimes happen whether we call them such or not. Denying the reality only makes it more difficult to identify and fight prejudice and keep members of these communities safe. Hate crime laws were originally proposed during the civil rights movement, in response to widespread violence against black Americans — and equally widespread prejudice in the legal system that led to few arrests. When the circumstances that led to the creation of these laws have been completely erased, for all effected groups, then perhaps the laws will no longer be necessary.
Comment on this on OUDaily.com
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8/19/12 10:16:50 PM