New at Reason: Jacob Sullum on the Federal Hate Crime Law

October 14, 2009

Last week the House of Representatives approved the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which President Obama promises to sign it as soon as it passes the Senate. In more than a decade of lobbying for the law, says Senior Editor Jacob Sullum, its supporters have never shown that state officials are letting people get away with murder, or lesser crimes of violence, when the victims belong to historically oppressed groups. Instead they have presented the legislation as a litmus test of antipathy toward violent bigots and sympathy for their victims. Given this framing, Sullum says, it’s surprising the law’s opponents managed to resist it for so long, when all they had on their side was the Constitution and basic principles of justice.

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