Previously, UCPeople reported on hate crimes legislation. On Thursday, October 8, 2009, hate crimes legislation passed the U.S. House of Representatives, and the bill will go to the Senate next. The hate crimes legislation would prohibit crimes "based on the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability of any person." The legislation would also give the federal government authority to prosecute violent hate crimes based on disability when local authorities fail to act. In addition, it would allocate $5 million each year to the Justice Department to provide assistance to local communities in investigating hate crimes. This legislation is attached to the Defense Authorization Bill, which funds operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, among other things. It is expected that the Senate will pass the bill and the President will sign it.
Hate crimes legislation comes on the heels of a recently released special report by the U.S. Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics. The report, based on data from the 2007 National Crime Victimization Survey, found that people with disabilities experienced violent crime at a rate one and one-half times greater than people without disabilities. For females with disabilities, the rate was twice as high as women without disabilities. People with intellectual disabilities were most at risk. One in five people with disabilities who experienced violent crimes felt that they had become victims because of their disability.
The report can be found at:
- http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/capd07.htm (Web)
- http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/ascii/capd07.txt (Plain Text)
For more information, please contact Annie Acosta at (202) 783-2229.
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