News and Politics | December 07, 2007 | 2 comments

Congress Drops Hate Crime Bill - Do To War

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cwilson
Unfortunately, the bill was added to a major defense bill that required additional funding for the Iraq war, which is something that a majority of Democrats oppose, so then the hate-crime bill gets swept under the rug. Such a shame.

Here's what it would've done, had it been passed:

"Under current federal law, hate crimes include acts of violence against individuals on the basis of race, religion, color or national origin. Federal prosecutors have jurisdiction only if the victim is engaged in a specific federally protected activity such as voting."

"Kennedy's bill would have extended the category to include sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or disability. It also would give federal authorities greater leeway to participate in hate crime investigations, and allow them to step in if local authorities were unwilling or unable to act."

I guess we'll have to wait a bit longer...
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