Is Killing Police A Hate Crime?

Parallax News presents big issues broken down into multiple perspectives. This brief looks at 3 perspectives on protections for police after Dallas.

After five officers were killed amidst a protest in Dallas last Thursday, police unions have called for the designating of crimes against officers as hate crimes. Louisiana has already passed a police hate crime resolution as of May. The “Blue Lives Matter” law will ensure harsher penalties and longer prison sentences, normally reserved for those who target others based on inherent traits like race, sexuality, or disabilities. The designation of hate crimes, resisted by conservatives as an unconstitutional form of punishment, was enshrined at the federal level by President Obama in 2009.

I. Fraternal Order of Police

The Fraternal Order of Police, representing more than 325,000 officers nationwide, has urged Congress to make it the norm for all acts of violence against police to fall under the hate crime designation. The officer network points to a huge spike in recent years of officers being killed. Many of the attacks, like the one in Dallas, come in the form of premeditated ambushes born of hatred against police. The FOP argues that officers already take on an incredible risk in protecting society. The group therefore believes that the government should carry out proactive measures to ensure these growing dangers are contained. One such measure would be to follow Louisiana’s example and deter violence by enforcing much tougher sentences against perpetrators.

II. Anti-Defamation League

The Anti-Defamation League, an advocacy group that fights against racism and bigotry across the country, says it would be a mistake to extend hate crime designations to include crimes against police officers. The ADL believes that such an extension would blur the definition of hate crime laws. The laws, as they stand in most states, rightfully cover groups that are under-protected in society and face greater risk of violent hatred. As it stands, crimes against police are already treated as aggravated cases and punished more severely in most states. Importantly for the ADL, current hate crime rules are based on conditions that are immutable, like race and sexuality. Police, in other words, have made a vocational choice, whereas minorities and gay people cannot abandon the traits that make them susceptible to hate. Also, the ADL argues that hate crimes rightly deter racist and abusive speech. If extended to police, hate crime laws might stifle legitimate criticism of state authorities.

III. Family Research Council

The Family Research Council, a major conservative organization, is wholly opposed to designating certain violations of the law as “hate crimes.” FRC leaders argue that the justice system should mete out sentences based on actions and not thought. A murder committed in cold blood, the group believes, is no less deserving of punishment than one motivated by hatred of skin color or sexual orientation. The victims in any violent crime, the FRC notes, are covered by 14th Amendment equal protections, meaning certain classes of people shouldn’t be given special rights over others when victimized by crime. The FRC also fears that hate crime laws, when extended to speech, are a major threat to the First Amendment. When “hate speech” becomes a criminal offense, the group notes, it adds a new exception to American freedom of speech and expression.

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Further Reading: Yahoo / Washington Post / FRC.org

This brief was written by Jared Metzker

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