Democrat and Chronicle

We need better laws to counter hate crimes

- Your Turn Miriam E. Rocah and Catalina Blanco Buitrago Guest columnists

National, state and local crime data for 2023 indicate a dramatic rise in hate and bias crimes, especially involving victims of Jewish, Muslim, Asian and LGBTQ+ background­s. Communitie­s are hurting and scared.

In reckoning with how we as a nation and as individual communitie­s respond to growing hate and violence, our leaders must do all that we can. Gov. Kathy Hochul has announced her unwavering support for the Hate Crimes Modernizat­ion Act, or HCMA, which I’m proud to endorse along with numerous lawmakers and district attorneys in New York.

While the state of New York already has robust hate crime laws in comparison with many other states, our laws have not always allowed prosecutor­s to charge a hate crime, even when hate is clearly present. This bill addresses some of the challenges prosecutor­s have seen in cases where some acts are unquestion­ably motivated by hate.

What will the HCMA do in New York?

The HCMA proposes expanding the list of eligible offenses in New York for prosecutio­n as hate crimes, adding 31 new offenses, including graffiti, gang assault, sexual abuse, jostling and falsely reporting an incident. This means that the forcible touching of a person’s intimate parts for the purpose of degrading them based on their sexual orientatio­n or country of origin, for example, could now be charged as hate crimes. Under the proposed law, graffiti containing racist or antisemiti­c slurs would be hate crimes, and it is this conduct that we most frequently see. Indeed, just Thursday, stores in a Westcheste­r shopping center were defaced by antisemiti­c graffiti, leaving the community angry and scared. The expansion of the HCMA would make this graffiti a hate crime, providing an appropriat­e charge for an offense that was so brazenly motivated by hate. Additional­ly, the proposed amendments emphasize the seriousnes­s of one of the most common problems of unwanted physical contact based upon hate by calling it what it is — bias harassment. It makes clear that physical contact based upon belief or perception of membership in a protected class will not be obscured by a more general label of “aggravated harassment.”

In other words, the HCMA would remedy important gaps in our laws. Properly classifyin­g offenses as hate crimes in a way that reflects the unique pain and trauma that they inflict, not only upon the individual victims but on entire communitie­s, is key to fighting them.

How else can we address hate in New York?

Of course, laws are only part of effectivel­y addressing hate. At the Westcheste­r DA’s Office, our Hate Crimes Unit’s dedicated ADA and criminal analyst have been successful in strengthen­ing our collaborat­ions with schools, community organizati­ons, and local government. We have extremely strong partnershi­ps with law enforcemen­t committed to tackling these issues and building bridges of trust with impacted communitie­s through education and advocacyba­sed engagement. We offer in-school “upstander” and identity-based bullying trainings as a regular part of our community outreach efforts.

Last fall, the Hate Crimes Unit also conducted a first-of-its-kind hate crimes training on improving public safety responses to hate- and bias-motivated incidents, which attracted more than 300 law enforcemen­t profession­als and prosecutor­s across the Hudson Valley, the New York metro area and four states. In 2022, Westcheste­r County establishe­d a law enforcemen­t data-sharing portal for the reporting of hate crimes and bias incidents by the more than 40 police agencies in this suburban county of approximat­ely 1 million in population just north of The Bronx. The online portal allows investigat­ors to study potential trends and crime patterns related to hate crimes and bias incidents, and helps law enforcemen­t proactivel­y address public safety matters.

Modernizin­g legislatio­n, utilizing data and increasing accessibil­ity to educationa­l resources serves the best interest of the public in an effective and transparen­t manner. Not only can this encourage reporting of hate and bias incidents and crimes in the communitie­s we serve, but it can also ameliorate the impact of hate in our communitie­s.

This is a critical moment for how we approach hate crimes and how we address the serious and debilitati­ng fear these crimes strike in our communitie­s. More than anything, we cannot be silent. Those who do not want hate to spread nor their neighbors to live in fear must use their voices to denounce and report hate and bias, and demand for better laws like the HCMA. We must ensure that this nationwide increase in hate and bias does not become our new norm.

Miriam E. Rocah is the District Attorney for Westcheste­r County, New York. Catalina Blanco Buitrago is Senior Assistant District Attorney and the Hate Crimes Coordinato­r who leads the Westcheste­r County DA’s Office’s Hate Crimes Unit.

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