We all know that hate crimes are very, very wrong. When someone commits a crime of violence against a person solely because of race, religion, or sexual orientation, they should be given an extra sentence in addition to that for the underlying crime. In the State of Florida, we have strong hate crimes laws. Unfortunately, that is not the case in all states.
Hate crimes tear at the very heart of America.
June marked the second anniversary of James Byrd Jr.'s death in Texas and October will mark the second anniversary of Matthew Shepard's murder in Wyoming. It is long past time federal prosecutors be given the authority to prosecute such crimes when there is not a state hate crime law or when local law enforcement fails to take action. In addition, as this legislation does, local law enforcement should be given federal support when they tackle such crimes. Immediately following last week's vote, numerous news outlets reported that the Republican Leadership, despite the bi-partisan vote in the House, stated that hate crimes language would be removed from the final conference report. This is the wrong message for the Republican Leadership to send to the American public.