Jewish groups urge hate crime bill passage

JTA

By Eric Fingerhut
April 23, 2009

The Jewish Council for Public Affairs has sent letters to all 435 members of the House of Representatives urging support of the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which would permit greater federal involvement in investigating hate crimes and expand the federal definition of such crimes to include those motivated by gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and disability.

JCPA also joined the Anti-Defamaation League, the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism and the National Council of Jewish Women and six other civil rights organizations in a coalition backing the bill.

The legislation was approved by the House Judiciary Committee this week and is expected to face a vote in the full House next week. The bill, which supporters have been pushing for a decade, has previously been attached to other legislation and passed both houses of Congress, but has been eliminated in conference committees. With Obama supporting the bill, backers are hoping for a change this year.

The JCPA letter states that the legislation would "ensure that justice is pursued even when local authorities are unable or unwilling to do so independently. JCPA believes that while states should continue to play the primary role in the prosecutions of hate crime violence, the federal government must be able to address cases when local authorities are either unable or unwilling to fully pursue justice."

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