Hate rolls on Any romantic who believes that love conquers all would have been brutally disillusioned by the House Judiciary Committee Tuesday. Hate beat hell out of love, and roughed up honesty and decency in the bargain. Attorney General Mark Pryor explained that the bill does not create new crimes or new victims, as opponents have said.
Hate is a faith-based initiative, it turns out.
SB 35 would allow juries to impose heavier penalties for criminal offenses committed because of a victim's race, color, religion, ethnicity, ancestry, national origin, sexual orientation, gender or disability - in other words, crimes committed not only against an individual but against a group. The concept of enhanced penalties is not novel. Arkansas law already authorizes enhanced penalties for a number of offenses - crimes against children, the elderly and police officers, among others. It is not true that all crimes are hate crimes. Nor is it true that SB 35 punishes thought.