Information on HATE CRIMES LEGISLATION just received
from America's National Organisation of Women
Please feel free to forward the following to activists:
* Across the United States, women are targets
of hate crimes every day.
Hate crimes have a chilling effect on every
woman's life. The threat of
such crimes instills fear in all women
(not just victims and survivors),
limiting where they work, live and study.
* Violence motivated by a person's sex,
sexual orientation, disability,
race or religion is a matter of concern;
yet many USA states lack
comprehensive hate crimes laws.
And USA federal law does not cover crimes
motivated by bias based upon sex,
sexual orientation and disability.
* Women charging state and local
authorities with failure or refusal to
enforce the law, especially
restraining orders, reportedly make up the
largest number of complaints received
by the Office of Violence Against
Women at the Justice Department.
Additionally, the office has received
complaints alleging that some local
law enforcement personnel have covered
up hate crimes against women.
* Many times local law enforcement
lack adequate resources to investigate
and successfully prosecute criminals.
* Expanding the federal hate crimes
statute would improve access to federal
resources to assist local and state
law enforcement officials in better
investigating and prosecuting
bias related crimes.
* Expanding the federal law would
also extend coverage to crimes motivated
by sex, sexual orientation and
disability.
Join America's National Organization
for Women to and Take Action to End Hate
Crimes!
Click here to tell representatives in
the House and Senate to expand
hate crimes protections.
http://www.capweb.net/now/LegAlert.morph?LegAlert_id=335
Or, send Valentine's Day cards to your representative and senators via
snail mail. Click here for their addresses. http://www.now.org/congress
TELL THE HOUSE AND SENATE TO EXPAND HATE CRIMES LEGISLATION TAKE ACTION |
