The Latest News on HR 1592 from CWFA

Most of the Christian public policy organizations are reporting the news about what HR 1592 is going to do if it is completely passed. This is not good news for followers of Christ Jesus who believe the bible with all of their hearts.

H.R. 1592: An Assault on Equal Protection

Shari Rendall
April 26, 2008

The 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution affords equal protection to every citizen under the law. This legislation would treat victims differently based on their class. Such laws do not equally protect all citizens.

The proposed categories of “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” in H.R. 1592 create special classes of victims based solely upon behavioral identification with a group of people. This means that a perpetrator could receive a harsher punishment for assaulting a homosexual man than for the same violent crime committed against a child.

“Hate crimes” laws politicize criminal law, leading to pressure on police and prosecutors to devote more of their limited resources to some cases at the expense of other crime victims’ cases. They also vastly expand the power and jurisdiction of the federal government to intervene in local law enforcement matters.

While the intent-based evaluation for murder examines intent and treats all criminals equally, “hate crimes” laws require an evaluation of a criminal’s thoughts and treats victims differently based on their identity. According to the FBI’s annual report on “hate crimes,” identifying feelings is beyond law enforcement’s ability and jurisdiction. The determination of thoughts and feelings involves enormous possibility of error. To maintain order and justice, government must judge actions — not feelings.

The most recent FBI Uniform Crime Report shows that bias-motivated crimes are on the decline. In fact, less than 17% of all law enforcement agencies reported a single hate crime in 2005. A total of only 1,171 “sexual orientation” bias crimes were reported (one-half of which were name-calling, pushing or shoving) — representing the largest and most consistent decrease of all bias-motivated crimes.

State criminal statutes already prosecute “hate crimes” to the fullest extent of their laws. In other words, existing laws are already working.