Evidence proves Utah needs hate crime law

By Angel Larsen

November 13, 2005 | Heads lowered, the detective informs a young mother that her son was shot and killed on the school playground. She bursts into tears and collapses into her husband's arms. Along with the little boy another boy and girl were injured in the shooting. During their investigation, detectives discover the dead boy was targeted for his race, African American, and the injured children for their religion, Jewish.

Although this scene was staged on the television show, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, it characterizes the heartless cruelty of hate crimes. Hate crimes are defined as "a criminal act or attempted act against a person, institution or property that is motivated in whole or in part by the offender's bias against a race, color, religion, gender, ethnic/national origin group, disability status or sexual orientation group," on hate-crime.website-works.com's Web site.

Hate crimes must come from the offender's bias. Biases against race, gender, national origin and disability status are based upon reasons that a victim can't choose. A person is born with a specific gender, race and national origin that they cannot control. No one gets the choice to be born as a boy over a girl.

Why should a person who was born one way think they have the right to judge another's circumstances? It is wrong to even think of judging a person based upon aspects of their lives that they couldn't change?

In 2003, there were 5,517 hate crimes were committed against people. That accounts for 63.3 percent of the 8,715 total reported hate crimes in the United States, according to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program's 2003 report. Racial bias motivated 4,544 single-bias hate crimes reported. It is ignorant to be so closed minded to judge a person on their skin color.

What right does that person have to do that? None. They have no right to point at a person and say they are bad or less of a person because they have lighter or darker skin or look different than them. Skin color is from genetics and people do not control that part of life.

As a person, choices about religion, sexual orientation and, even now days, gender are individual choices. That means someone's choice to be Jewish or Catholic should not matter to people. The First Amendment of the Constitution allows freedom of religion. However in 2003, religious bias accounted for 16.4 percent or 1,428 hate crimes out of the 8,706 single-bias motivated hate crimes reported. How can a person who has had made plenty of personal mistakes, judge what is wrong for another person?

Every person's spiritual or religious needs are as unique as them. With those needs comes a variety of organized religions and even just spiritual awakenings or matters. A person is not required to have organized religion to be spiritual. The founding fathers desired freedom of religion for everyone. Not for just those that are Catholic or Latter-day Saints but everyone living in this country.

Along with religious choices is the individual freedom to not follow the societal normal in their sexuality does not make it wrong. That choice is for the individual to make yet people believe they have the right to tell them how to live. Sexual orientation biases account for 16.4 percent or 1,428 hate crimes out of the 8,706 single-bias motivated hate crimes reported in the United States in 2003 as well.

Just because someone's beliefs or lifestyle is different gives no one the right to threaten, injure or kill a person over it.

When these crimes are committed, leniency is given. Michael Brad Magleby was convicted in 1999 for burning a cross in the yard of an interracial couple in 1996. Magleby received 12 years in prison. Only 12 years to think about his crime, return to society, and do it all over again if he chooses.

In 2002, James Michael Herrick received four years in prison for starting fire to Curry-in-a-Hurry, a Pakistani-owned business. These crimes were committed against property but what comes when these men get out of jail. Is their next crime against a person?

Federal laws have tightened down on hate crimes but what about in Utah. Is there no desire to end these crimes? Although hate crimes do not make up a lot of Utah crime, laws are needed.

The latest example is of Robby Wayne Baalmar, David Lance Gardner, both of Sandy, and Keith Wayne Cotter of Draper, indicted on charges of beating an African-American man on Mar. 12, in a Deseret Morning News article written by Geoffrey Fattah on Friday, Nov. 5. All three attackers were white men and believed to be associated with white supremacist organizations. All three men face maximum sentences of 10 years. The article also mentioned how Assistant U.S. Attorney Carlos Esqueda compared Utah's hate crime statute to the federal law. If these men had been charged under Utah law, they would have a maximum sentence of only five years. And this crime was committed against a person.

It is wrong when individuals can choice to threaten, injure and even kill fellow citizens over issues like race, religion and sexual orientation. It is said when people worry more about what the next person is worshipping than their own spirituality or if their neighbor is living "the correct" sexual lifestyle. It is no one's right to enforce their beliefs and ideas on others.

The United States was created for people to have freedom to make choices. By terrorizing people for their race, religion or sexual orientation destroys the foundation of our country. People should not have to live in fear of their lives. This is America, land of the free and home of the brave. Apparently freedom is only a luxury if you're a white male.

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