Mr. Speaker, as a member of the House Armed Services Committee, I rise today to register my strong support for maintaining the Senate’s hate crimes provisions in the defense authorization conference report. 

The brutal murders of Matthew Shepard and James Byrd graphically demonstrated to the nation the horrors of violence motivated by hate and bigotry.  In 2002 alone, law enforcement agencies reported 7,462 bias-motivated criminal incidents.  Nearly half of those crimes were targeted at the victim’s race, with biases against religion, sexual orientation and ethnicity also common reasons for violence.  Fifty people were even harmed because of a physical or mental disability.

Unfortunately, four states have no laws against hate crimes, and the statutes in another seventeen states fall short of full protection.  Even in a state such as Rhode Island, where we have strong laws against hate crimes, law enforcement officials recorded 38 cases of bias-motivated offenses in 2002.  Because current federal hate crimes law only covers crimes motivated by racial, religious or ethnic prejudice, Congress must expand the definition to include violence based on gender, sexual orientation and disability, and promote the aggressive prosecution of all hate crimes.

Because no American should be targeted for violence based on prejudice, we must pass the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which would provide federal assistance to state and local authorities in prosecuting hate crimes.  Additionally, the legislation would expand the federal definition of hate crimes.  As a person with a disability – one of the categories that would be covered under the expanded definition – I know how important it is that our nation protect all those that could be singled out for violence based on personal characteristics. 

I urge my colleagues to vote for this motion to instruct conferees.