NCJ Number
123353
Journal
Yale Law Journal Volume: 99 Issue: 4 Dated: (January 1990) Pages: 845-864
Date Published
1990
Length
20 pages
Annotation
After reviewing existing law pertinent to bias crime (racially and ethnically motivated violence), this note proposes a model statute designed to increase the number of prosecutions of such crimes.
Abstract
The limitations of Federal criminal and civil rights statutes indicate the need for State statutes that specifically address bias-related violence. Current relevant State statutes leave too much discretion to the prosecutor, resulting in a high percentage of these crimes going unprosecuted. The proposed model statute makes it a crime when a person -- with the intent to harass, annoy, threaten, intimidate, or alarm another person -- strikes, shoves, kicks, or otherwise subjects a person to physical contact or attempts or threatens to do the same because of some immutable characteristics which the victim possesses or is perceived to possess as a member of a disfavored group. The statute requires a prosecutor to either prosecute such cases as bias crimes or provide written justification for not prosecuting the case. The statute would also establish a State Bias Reporting Agency to collect information and statistics on bias crimes, receive prosecutors' written justifications for not prosecuting bias offenses, and investigate those cases not prosecuted. 66 footnotes.