AL House OKs bill to add sexual orientation to hate crimes law

From the Tuscaloosa News:

The Alabama House has approved a bill to add crimes against people because of their sexual orientation to the state’s hate crimes law.

The bill by Rep. Alvin Holmes, a Montgomery Democrat, generated heated criticism last year and did not get enough votes to come up for passage. The bill passed Tuesday by a close 46-44 vote with no discussion.

The bill now goes to the Senate where passage is doubtful with only two days remaining in the regular session.

Holmes said the state’s current hate crimes law, passed in 1994, includes crimes against people for race, color, religion and national origin, but left out sexual orientation because of a technical mistake.

I wasn’t even aware that Alabama had its own “hate crimes” laws.  I’ll state up front that I fundamentally disagree with laws that punish people for thoughts.  At least federal hate crimes serve an ostensibly more virtuous purpose as they enable federal prosecution in cases that would otherwise be purely within the state’s jurisdiction.  I suppose the thought is that some locales might be reluctant to prosecute crimes committed against certain minority groups and that the federal government should be able to sweep in and right the situation.

The Alabama law, however, doesn’t serve such a purpose.  It merely lumps on additional punishment because of your thoughts or beliefs.  That is asinine.  If someone burns down my house for fun they should be eligible for the exact same punishment as someone who might burn down someone else’s house who might belong to a state sanctioned protected group.  In either case the criminal is prosecuted for the actual crime, but due to “hate crimes” laws the “hateful” person gets punished further because the state didn’t approve of their thoughts.

Here is Alabama’s hate crime law as it is currently written:

Section 13A-5-13

Crimes motivated by victim’s race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity or physical or mental disability.

(a) The Legislature finds and declares the following:

(1) It is the right of every person, regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, or physical or mental disability, to be secure and protected from threats of reasonable fear, intimidation, harassment, and physical harm caused by activities of groups and individuals.

(2) It is not the intent, by enactment of this section, to interfere with the exercise of rights protected by the Constitution of the State of Alabama or the United States.

(3) The intentional advocacy of unlawful acts by groups or individuals against other persons or groups and bodily injury or death to persons is not constitutionally protected when violence or civil disorder is imminent, and poses a threat to public order and safety, and such conduct should be subjected to criminal sanctions.

(b) The purpose of this section is to impose additional penalties where it is shown that a perpetrator committing the underlying offense was motivated by the victim’s actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, or physical or mental disability.

(c) A person who has been found guilty of a crime, the commission of which was shown beyond a reasonable doubt to have been motivated by the victim’s actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, or physical or mental disability, shall be punished as follows:

(1) Felonies:

a. On conviction of a Class A felony that was found to have been motivated by the victim’s actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, or physical or mental disability, the sentence shall not be less than 15 years.

b. On conviction of a Class B felony that was found to have been motivated by the victim’s actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, or physical or mental disability, the sentence shall not be less than 10 years.

c. On conviction of a Class C felony that was found to have been motivated by the victim’s actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, or physical or mental disability, the sentence shall not be less than two years.

d. For purposes of this subdivision, a criminal defendant who has been previously convicted of any felony and receives an enhanced sentence pursuant to this section is also subject to enhanced punishment under the Alabama Habitual Felony Offender Act, Section 13A-5-9.

(2) Misdemeanors:

On conviction of a misdemeanor which was found beyond a reasonable doubt to have been motivated by the victim’s actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, or physical or mental disability, the defendant shall be sentenced for a Class A misdemeanor, except that the defendant shall be sentenced to a minimum of three months.

If I read that correctly any misdemeanor, regardless of how trivial it may be, that was deemed to be committed based on “the victim’s actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, or physical or mental disability” will guarantee the offender no less than three months behind bars.

Holmes’ proposed modifications would add “sexual orientation” to the list of protected characteristics, with “sexual orientation” defined as “heterosexuality, homosexuality, or bisexuality.”  I’m only half surprised they didn’t include transgenders.

The bottom line is that in Alabama you should be punished for committing a crime against anyone.  Period.  Additional punishment for your state of mind is unnecessary and, quite frankly, unfair to victims whose assailants receive less punishment because their assailants didn’t single them out for some state approved reason.  The legislature should not waste time with this particular bill and should instead take efforts to repeal Alabama’s existing hate crimes law.  Alternatively, they could just go ahead and make everyone a protected group and therefore amplify the punishment for all criminals.