Let's look at another hate crime which appears to be quite similar to the one in Mississippi. This one randomly targeted, and killed, a Latino man.
Quote:On Long Island, New York on November 8, 2008, Marcelo Lucero, a 37 year-old Ecuadorian real estate agent, was beaten and fatally stabbed by seven teenagers who were driving around to "go find some Mexicans to f— up." The teens spotted Lucero and a friend, then proceeded "[l]ike a lynch mob...got out of their car and surrounded Mr. Lucero," beating and stabbing him, according to the local prosecutor. The teenagers, all 17 and 16 years old, were charged with felony gang assault.
One of them was also charged with manslaughter as a hate crime. http://www.civilrights.org/publications/hatecrimes/hispanics.html
The prosecutor in this case had alleged that Jeffery Conroy and his friends often hunted for Hispanic men to assault, an activity that the authorities said they referred to as “Mexican hopping" or "beaner-hopping".
Quote:Three of the 12 jurors said in interviews outside the courthouse that the debate among them throughout four days of deliberations focused on Mr. Conroy’s intent...Mr. Engel and another juror, Eric Kramer, 42, an environmental engineer, said the phrase that sent the seven teenagers to Patchogue that night was important. “It was, ‘Let’s go beat up Mexican guys,’ ” Mr. Kramer said. “They never said, ‘Let’s go kill some guys, let’s go murder some guys.’
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/20/nyregion/20patchogue.html
Jeffrey Conroy was convicted of first degree manslaughter
as a hate crime. And he received the maximum sentence possible for that crime.
Quote:The teenager, Jeffrey Conroy, now 19, stood next to his lawyer in State Supreme Court here as Justice Robert W. Doyle told a courtroom filled with relatives, friends and supporters of both Mr. Conroy and the immigrant, Marcelo Lucero, that the proof of Mr. Conroy’s guilt was “overwhelming” and that he was convicted of “senseless and brutal crimes.”
The 25-year sentence was the longest possible for first-degree manslaughter as a hate crime, the most serious charge Mr. Conroy faced.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/27/nyregion/27patchogue.html
Under NYS law, where this crime took place, there was no doubt in the jury's mind that this crime was bias-related.
Quote:According to Title Y, Hate Crimes Act of 2000,
Article 485 of the New York State Penal Law, the
New York State legislature has defined a hate crime
as one in which the victim is intentionally selected,
in whole or in part, because of “race, color, national
origin, ancestry, gender, religion, religious practice,
age, disability or sexual orientation.”
.
Under NYS law, a bias-related crime carries enhanced penalties beyond the usual penalties for such acts when not motivated by bias.
The beating and killing of a man at random, simply because he was Hispanic, is not an act of "simple stupidity" as BillRM suggests. It was a brutal act of overt prejudice--the beating and killing of Marcelo Lucero was not just an assault or act of manslaughter, it was a vicious attack motivated
only by bias toward an entire group of which Mr. Lucero was a member. Simply to punish these actions as assault, or manslaughter, misses an essential aspect of these crimes--they were fueled by prejudice toward an entire group, and these behaviors threaten the civil liberties of all members of that group in the community.
A documentary about the killing of Lucero and the response of the community is due to air on PBS next month.
Quote:Not In Our Town: Light in the Darkness
airs on PBS nationwide Sept. 21, 2011
Not In Our Town: Light in the Darkness is a one-hour documentary about a town coming together to take action after anti-immigrant violence devastates the community. In 2008, a series of attacks against Latino residents of Patchogue, New York culminate with the murder of Marcelo Lucero, an Ecuadorian immigrant who had lived in the Long Island village for 13 years.
Over a two-year period, the story follows Mayor Paul Pontieri, the victim’s brother, Joselo Lucero, and Patchogue residents as they openly address the underlying causes of the violence, work to heal divisions, and begin taking steps to ensure everyone in their village will be safe and respected.
http://www.niot.org/LightInTheDarkness
When bias-crimes occur, it is important that the community examine the existing tensions within it's population to try to deal with these in the best manner possible. In the case of the Lucero killing, it highlighted the fact that other bias-related attacks on Hispanics had apparently been taking place, and might have been aggravated by anti-immigrant political comments, and that law enforcement might have failed to take these attacks on Latinos seriously enough or actually enabled them.
For that reason, the family of Lucero has filed a $40 million civil rights lawsuit against the county in which this crime took place and there is an ongoing investigation by the U.S. Dept. of Justice into the situation that existed in the county. You can read about it here.
http://colorlines.com/archives/2010/11/marcelo_luceros_family_files_40_million_civil_rights_lawsuit_against_police.html
When it comes to bias-related crimes, the goal is to prevent them from occurring, and to deal with them effectively when they do take place--and that must include a recognition of the bias that motivated the crimes.
