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HATE, VIOLENCE, AND DEATH ON MAIN STREET USA2008sentencing judges are required to take into account other factors when sentencing defendants. 18The impact of the sentencing enhancement law going forward may therefore be reduced.II.Proposed <strong>Hate</strong> Crime Legislation in the 111 th CongressIn 2009, a number of proposals were introduced to exp<strong>and</strong> federal hate crime law. Two piecesof legislation have been introduced that specifically includes homeless people in hate crimelaws.A. <strong>Hate</strong> Crime Legislation Directed Toward Crimes Against Homeless PersonsIn 2009, two hate-crimes bills mentioned the homeless, specifically, so far. H.R. 3419 wasintroduced on July 30. This bill seeks to amend the <strong>Hate</strong> Crimes Statistics Act to includecrimes against the homeless. U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) <strong>and</strong> 13 other U.S.Representatives co-sponsored this bill. The bill was referred to the House JudiciaryCommittee.H.R. 262, the David Ray Ritcheson <strong>Hate</strong> Crime Prevention Act, was introduced by U.S. Rep.Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX). The bill provides support to victims of hate crimes. Thosevictims who lose their jobs due to the attack can claim unemployment insurance. If a victimloses their house, the Secretary of Housing <strong>and</strong> Urban Development can use grants to providehousing for victims including those who were homeless before the attack <strong>and</strong> are now in needof assistance because of the attack.B. <strong>Hate</strong> Crime Legislation Directed Toward Crimes Against Other PersonsAs in sessions of Congress, the bill that has made the most progress toward enactment is theLocal Law Enforcement <strong>Hate</strong> Crimes Prevention Act, known in the Senate as the MatthewShepard Local Law Enforcement <strong>Hate</strong> Crimes Prevention Act. This Act would, among otherthings, add a new section to the federal code entitled “<strong>Hate</strong> Crime Acts,” which would createpenalties for certain kinds of completed or attempted willful injury against a person because ofthe person’s actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexualorientation, gender identity, or disability. 1918 See United States v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220, 245-46 (2005) (declaring unconstitutional the statute creating m<strong>and</strong>atoryGuidelines <strong>and</strong> holding Guidelines should only be applied in an advisory fashion as one of several factors to consider atsentencing); see also Gall v. United States, __ S. Ct. __, 2007 WL 4292116, at *7 (Dec. 10, 2007) (holding theGuidelines’ sentencing range is a starting point for determining a defendant’s sentence, but the district court should notpresume the range is reasonable). The factors the sentencing court must consider are enumerated in 18 U.S.C. §3553(a)(1)-(7).19 The Act breaks out “offenses involving actual or perceived race, color, religion, or national origin” <strong>and</strong> “offensesinvolving actual or perceived religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.” See,e.g., H.R. 1592, sec. 6(a)(1), (a)(2) (as approved by the House). In order to legitimize federal action <strong>and</strong> invoke federaljurisdiction, the bill requires that offenses against individuals in the latter group have a relationship to interstate orforeign commerce, thereby implicating Congress’s power to regulate under the Commerce Clause of the U.S.Constitution. See H. Rep. No. 110-113 at 14-15 (2007) (explaining bill includes requirement of a nexus between crimes41
HATE, VIOLENCE, AND DEATH ON MAIN STREET USA2008Like the 1968 Civil Rights Act, this legislation would permit federal enforcement, but only ifa “certifying” federal official indicates there is “reasonable cause to believe the actual orperceived race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, ordisability” was a motivating factor underlying the defendant’s alleged conduct; even then,federal prosecution is permitted only after the certifying federal official consults with state orlocal law enforcement <strong>and</strong> determines that the state has asked the federal government toassume jurisdiction, has requested the federal government assume jurisdiction, or that a priorstate prosecution has left “demonstrably unvindicated the Federal interest in eradicating biasmotivatedviolence.” 20The Local Law Enforcement <strong>Hate</strong> Crimes Prevention Act would also authorize the AttorneyGeneral to provide non-financial assistance, including technical, forensic, <strong>and</strong> prosecutorialassistance, to state, local, <strong>and</strong> tribal law enforcement to aid in investigation <strong>and</strong> prosecution ofviolent felony crimes “motivated by prejudice based on actual or perceived race, color,religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability of thevictim,” <strong>and</strong> would authorize $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2008 <strong>and</strong> 2009 to providefederal grants of up to $100,000 per entity per year to state, local, <strong>and</strong> tribal law enforcementfor investigating <strong>and</strong> prosecuting hate crimes. 21On April 29, 2009, the House passed the Local Law Enforcement <strong>Hate</strong> Crimes Prevention Act,H.R.1913. This bill allows federal law to include crimes against people based on a persons’ gender,sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability as a hate crime. The bill will improve the resourcesof state <strong>and</strong> local law enforcement agencies to prevent, investigate, <strong>and</strong> prosecute hate crimes. 22On July 24, 2009, the U.S. Senate approved S. 1390, the Department of Defense Authorizationlegislation-<strong>and</strong> the vehicle for the Matthew Shepard <strong>Hate</strong> Crimes Prevention Act (HCPA) by a voteof 87 to 7. The next step is a conference between the House <strong>and</strong> Senate to reconcile their differentversions of this legislation.In 2009, H.R. 823, introduced by U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney of New York (D-NY), wouldof prejudice based on gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, or disability <strong>and</strong> Congress’s power to regulatecommerce in order to alleviate concerns about the provision’s constitutionality). The nexus between commerce <strong>and</strong>offenses based on race/color <strong>and</strong> interstate commerce is not required, however, because the Thirteenth Amendment tothe Constitution has been interpreted to explicitly authorize Congress to regulate violence committed on this basis. SeeH. Rep. No. 110-113 at 14. Finally, religion <strong>and</strong> national origin are included in both groupings because, “to the extentthat there may be open questions regarding the precise contours of the range of circumstances under which theenforcement provision of the 13th amendment authorizes Congress to criminalize hate crimes committed on the basis ofreligion [<strong>and</strong> national origin], the legislation has included hate crimes based on religious beliefs [<strong>and</strong> national origin] inboth sections.” Id. at 15 & n.21.20 See, e.g., H.R. 1592, sec. 6(b). “Certifying” federal officials are “the Attorney General, the Deputy Attorney General,the Associate Attorney General, or any Assistant Attorney General specially designated by the Attorney General.” Id.21 The non-financial assistance portion of the legislation provides federal assistance not only for offenses that qualify ashate crimes under federal law, but also for crimes that are “a violation of [] State, local, or Tribal hate crime laws.” See,e.g., H.R. 1592, sec. 3(a)(C) (as approved by the House). The potential incorporation of this language into federal lawunderscores the importance of state- <strong>and</strong> local-level legislative action.22 H.R. 1913. The Local Law Enforcement Act, as introduced by John Conyers Jr [R-MI].42
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