Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Hate crimes bill considered...

U.S. Representative Barney Frank announced that the House Judiciary Committee will be considering HR 1913, The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, the week of April 20th. U.S. Representative John Conyers of Michigan introduced the bill into the House on April 2. As of Tuesday it already had 42 co-sponsors.

The problem with hate crimes legislation efforts such as HR 1913, is that they go beyond providing equal protection under the law, to adding additional penalties based upon assumed beliefs or thoughts. This can lead to discrimination against religious views, and Gary [Cass] points out that this is already taking place in Canada.

From Crosstalk!

(Read the entire text of HR 1913 at GovTrack.)

No comments: