Sen. Levin Praises Historic Passage of Hate Crimes Act

Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act Now Awaits Presidential Signature

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., praised the congressional passage of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act today as an important milestone in preventing violence against people based on their gender, sexual orientation or disability. The bill is included in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 which now awaits signing by the president.

“The hate crimes legislation would, for the first time, give the Justice Department jurisdiction over crimes of violence that are committed not only because of a person’s race, color, religion and national origin, which we already have on the books, but also based on gender, sexual orientation or disability,” Levin said. “The inclusion of this legislation in this—the last National Defense Authorization Act in which Senator Kennedy participated in his 26 years of service on the Armed Services Committee—is a fitting tribute to one of the greatest senators in the history of this chamber.

“It is highly appropriate for this law to be part of the National Defense Authorization Act. The values our men and women fight for include tolerance and freedom from hate-inspired violence against our citizens. Indeed, hate crimes represent a dangerous variety of domestic terrorism while our troops fight terrorism overseas.”

Levin has worked to pass hate crimes legislation since 1997 when Kennedy introduced the Hate Crimes Prevention Act in the 105th Congress and has co-sponsored 12 pieces of legislation in the Senate. The amendment was last added to the National Defense Authorization Act in 2007 but was rejected by the House of Representatives. In July the Senate voted to accept the hate crimes legislation with a vote of 63 to 28. As chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Levin worked through conference with the House to ensure the act remained in the final bill voted on by Congress.

When enacted, this legislation will (1) prohibit hate crimes based on race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability of any person; (2) provide support for the criminal investigation and prosecution of hate crimes by state, local and tribal law enforcement officials; (3) prohibit attacks on United States service members based on their military service; and (4) ensures that state and local law enforcement will retain primary jurisdiction over investigations and prosecutions.

The act is named for two Americans who lost their lives in 1998 to hate crimes. Matthew Shepard died at the age of 21 in Wyoming after two men beat him severely because he was gay. James Byrd, Jr. was an African American who was lynched in Texas by three men at the age of 49.