It’s beyond time

Enhance penalties for hate crimes

Ifiled Senate Bill 3 — “Creating A Sentence Enhancement For Certain Offenses Committed Against A Person Due To The Person’s Attributes; And To Require An Annual Report Concerning The Commission Of Hate Crimes In Arkansas” — for a few reasons.

Criminal acts against someone because of their race, sex, sexual orientation or other specific characteristics should be punished appropriately.

My Christian faith tells me that all people are created by God and worthy of protection. When we allow a group to be targeted for criminal acts because they are different, we are failing in our responsibility to work toward a society that loves others as God loves us.

Allowing Arkansas to be the last state to confront hate crimes does not represent who Arkansas really is. Arkansas is a welcoming state, and our state law should make that fact clear to anyone considering moving their family or locating a business here.

Let’s talk about what this bill does. Simply put, it increases penalties for crimes committed with the intent to harm someone based on their race, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, homelessness, disability, ethnicity, color, ancestry, service in the United States Armed Forces, or sex. Specifically, it allows for up to 20% enhancement of a criminal penalty.

Here’s what the bill doesn’t do. It doesn’t create new classes of “hate” misdemeanors or felonies. Let me say this again — it only increases penalties for criminal acts already on the books. There are no new “hate crimes,” only stiffer penalties for current criminal acts like assault, vandalism, attempted murder, etc.

More to the point, it doesn’t create new laws that prohibit free speech or thought. You can still believe and say what you want. (But a personal request: If you take comfort in spewing words of hate, please do so away from me.) It’s simple: If you do not commit an act that is already a crime under current Arkansas law, this new law cannot be used to penalize you.

You will hear opponents say that the other states — 47 of them — that already have hate crimes legislation on the books still have crimes committed against protected classes. Correct, these bills aren’t magic. No bill is. But it is our job as lawmakers to see a problem and come up with a statutory solution. This bill comes with a data collection piece as well, which means that we will be able to track how well it is working, who is being targeted, and where. So no, this bill won’t end hate. Nothing will. But it will allow for perpetrators of these types of crimes — crimes that are designed to terrorize entire communities, not just an individual victim — to receive stiffer penalties.

This isn’t the first time that a hate crimes bill has been filed in Arkansas. Years ago, my friend and colleague Sen. Joyce Elliott was the House sponsor of a bill. This bill included protections for LGBTQ Arkansans. It would have passed had she taken out the words “sexual orientation.” But because she understood that members of the LGBTQ community are frequently the targets of unspeakable crimes, she stood her ground. The bill failed.

You will hear a lot about five words included in our current version: “sexual orientation and gender identity.” The governor and attorney general have both spoken frequently and on the record about their support for a bill with these protections included. We have no intention of removing these words or abandoning this community.

Finally, you’ll hear opponents say that we already have laws on the books. Assault is assault. True. But I’ll remind these folks that enhancing penalties for targeting certain groups is nothing new.

For instance, in 2017, I sponsored a bill enhancing penalties for aggravated assault which targeted a law enforcement or corrections officer. It passed the Senate 35-0 and the House 92-5. I filed it when I saw a string of Arkansas law enforcement officers being shot at or assaulted.

Why would we not have a similar response to other groups being targeted?

If you want to express your opinion on this bill, I encourage you to contact both your state senator and representative. Let them know that you live in their district and this is a topic that is important to you. We hear from a lot of people during a session, and I know this bill will be the catalyst for some emotional debate. With that in mind, I ask you to be polite, personal, and succinct.

It is beyond time to pass hate crimes legislation. I ask you to be a part of the conversation and make your voice heard. It’s going to get noisy; it always does when the Legislature takes up social issues, but it’s time to put our faith into practice.

State Sen. Jim Hendren of Gravette represents Senate District 2. He is serving as president pro tempore of the Senate during the 92nd General Assembly and filed the bill with a bipartisan group of legislators including Rep. Fred Love, the lead House sponsor.