Matthew Shepard Act PASSES, On Way To President's Desk

[DiamondDog]

Matthew Shepard Act PASSES, On Way To President's Desk

After years and years and years of work, tonight the Matthew Shepard Act passed its final congressional hurdle and at long last is on its way to President Obama's desk for final approval.

The Matthew Shepard Foundation rejoices:
Today, the United States Senate took an historic step toward ensuring justice for the victims of hate crimes targeted for violence due to their sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or disability.

“Dennis and I are extremely proud of the Senate for once again passing this historic measure of protection for victims of these brutal crimes,” said Judy Shepard, president of the Matthew Shepard Foundation Board. “Knowing that the president will sign it, unlike his predecessor, has made all the hard work this year to pass it worthwhile. Hate crimes continue to affect far too many Americans who are simply trying to live their lives honestly, and they need to know that their government will protect them from violence, and provide appropriate justice for victims and their families.”

By voting overwhelmingly to extend to these often-targeted Americans our nation’s decades-old bias crime legislation, senators sent the message that hate crimes will not go unpunished, and local governments and law enforcement agencies will not run out of financial resources to provide justice to these victims and their loved ones.
A wonderful day for LGBT people and a historic day for America!

[Doggiestyle]

I know that everybody is going to think that i'me crazy for saying this (and others will say that this confirms that I am crazy) ! But that's OK, I don't mind, so go ahead. Anyway I have a feeling that this one will eventually come back and start biting people for really no good reason. Actually I cannot see how a law like this could be written without being totally ambiguous, and that is the problem. Well I guess that we'll have to see what they passed for a law. I doubt that it is anything that makes any good sense.

Also does anybody think that if this law was in effect the day that Matthew Shepard met up with those punks that this law would have made any difference? Why HELL NO!!! *I mean the guys were committing murder! I can assure you that (obviously) if any "hate crime law" was in effect, that it would not have made one bit of difference. I mean it's like a guy using a gun to rob a store or somebody. Do you really think that the robber is concerned about any gun laws?

This is why I am such a big advocate of learning self defense and being able to put a stop to any attacker. If Matthew Shepard (or anybody) were to have studied & practice the Martial Arts. He would have had a lot better chance of making an escape from his attackers and therfore living to see another day. Which would have done a lot more good than a damm law would have done. Which brings up another problem with laws, they require there to be a cop around to enforce to do any good. If you are in a predicament, then waiting around for a cop is a poor defense. :(

Your friend, :doggie:

[Long Duck Dong]

protect people after the fact....... good move.....

the fact still remains that people will get shot, beaten, abused etc etc.... calling it a hate crime will not change that..... it changes the label of the crime....

changing the label of a crime, doesn't stop the crime taking place....

[Hephaestion]

Possibly the benefit of having specific laws is that it prevents the obfuscation (use a dictionary) of crime for performance statsitics purposes.

We have performance targets and statistics in the UK and guess what - the police have been lying about woolly categories of crime. Now that has been identified, heads and testicles will roll - hopefully.

.

[TaylorMade]

We want the government out of our bedrooms, yet we are seeking the governments allowance to speculate to a criminals THOUGHTS about a group of people when they commit a crime?

No, thank you.

*Taylor*

[FalconAngel]

We want the government out of our bedrooms, yet we are seeking the governments allowance to speculate to a criminals THOUGHTS about a group of people when they commit a crime?

No, thank you.

*Taylor*

Well, the purpose of this law will never stop hate crime against the GLBT community, it should serve to reduce the casual hate crime.

The hard core haters, the ones that stalk their victims based on their sexuality, will not be stopped by any law. They just see themselves as suffering for their crusade and wear their prison time as a badge of honor.

I got into this discussion once with someone else, who thought that this was thought crime, but after a lot of back and forth, it became clear that, while difficult to prosecute, it will not be impossible.

Last week, there was an attack on an openly Gay man, for which the two that did it have been arrested. They could be tried under hate crimes laws because, after they beat him, they left and then came back to rob him.
Any cop will tell you that if they meant to rob him, they would not have left and come back. They would have beaten him, robbed him, then left and not come back.
The robbery was just a lame attempt to reduce the possibility of getting a harsher sentence than strong arm robbery.

That is also a good demonstration of the difference of severity between most crimes and hate crime. It is like the difference between t-ping someone's house and painting swastikas on it. Taken to the next level, the difference does not change, only the severity of the crime.

Hate crimes are not about the crime, itself, but the reason that someone becomes the victim of them. Targeting a random person on the street for a beating is one thing, but when you target them specifically for their race, religion, gender or sexuality, then that becomes a hate crime. It is in the intent and motive. Understandably, killing someone for personal financial or other type of real world gain, while motive, is not based in hate, but personal self interest.
Hate crime has no such motive. And that specific difference is what truly separates the two. The reason for the target being selected.

But, like I said, the law will curtail the casual (or drunken) hater, but not the hard core haters, that plan their crimes.