Bias Crimes: Unconscious Racism in the Prosecution of "Racially Motivated Violence" (From Criminal Justice and Latino Communities, P 139-158, 1995, Antoinette S. Lopez, ed. - See NCJ-168536)

• NCJ Number: 168544
• Author(s): T K Hernandez
• Date Published: 1995
• Length: 20 pages
• Sale Source: Garland Publishing, Inc.
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS.

Annotation

This analysis of hate crimes focuses on the need for carefully drafted laws against bias-related violence at the State level, current State criminal laws and their limitations, the rationale for reducing prosecutorial discretion in a model statute, and the proposed elements of a model State law.

Abstract

Current Federal criminal and civil rights laws have many limitations that point to the need for State laws on hate crimes. Most of the current State criminal codes leave too much discretion to the prosecutor. As a result, bias crimes are unlikely to be prosecuted. However, both unconscious racism and the involvement of the police in bias-related incidents make bias crime an area that is uniquely affected by prosecutorial discretion. A model State law should define a bias crime as any act or threat made due to some immutable characteristic that the victim possesses or is perceived to possess as a member of a disfavored group. The model law also specifies the duty of the prosecutor, establishes and funds a State bias reporting agency, sets a judicial standard for according declaratory judgment, empowers the judiciary to appoint a special prosecutor if a prosecutor disagrees with the rationale of a declaratory judgment, and punishes bias crimes by either imprisonment or a fine. Footnotes