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(Washington D.C.)- Congresswoman Grace F. Napolitano (D-Norwalk) joined a large bipartisan majority of her colleagues today in the House of Representatives, voting for and passing H.R. 1592, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act. This bipartisan bill focuses on providing new resources to help state and local law enforcement agencies prevent and prosecute hate crimes. It also closes gaps in current federal hate crimes law.
“When a hate crime occurs our communities are paralyzed. Passage today of the Hate Crimes Prevention Act reaffirms that hate and intolerance are unacceptable in our society and incompatible with the democratic ideals of America,” stated Napolitano.
Hate crimes continue to be widespread and persistent: More than 113,000 hate crimes have been documented by the FBI since 1991. In 2005 alone, there were 7,163 reported hate crimes. State and local law enforcement alone are unable to meet the challenge of hate crime prevention and prosecution and desperately require federal assistance to address this challenge.
The bill passed today included the following critical provisions:
- Authorizes the Department of Justice to provide state and local law enforcement agencies technical, forensic, prosecutorial and other forms of assistance in the investigation and prosecution of hate crimes.
- Authorizes the Department of Justice to provide grants to state and local law enforcement agencies that are investigating hate crimes.
- Closes gaps in federal law to help combat hate crimes committed against persons because of their race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.
“All Americans have a fundamental right to feel safe in their communities. With today’s action in Congress a critically important civil rights bill moves forward, through which our local communities can eventually get the resources they need to combat these disturbing, hateful, and totally unacceptable crimes and prevent them from occurring in our neighborhoods,” concluded Napolitano.
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