The Bobster
Senior News Editor since 2004
Pols, DA Bragg pitch new law to expand NY hate crimes statute and enhance sentences
The proposed Hate Crimes Modernization Act, expected to be considered by the state legislature when it reconvenes next year, would add 31 new offenses to the list of those that can be charged as ha…
nypost.com
Pols, DA Bragg pitch new law to expand NY hate crimes statute and enhance sentences
By
Haley Brown,
Ben Kochman,
Carl Campanile and
Jorge Fitz-Gibbon
Published Nov. 6, 2023, 2:22 p.m. ET
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and Albany lawmakers joined together Monday to pitch a new law they say will help combat rising hate crimes by expanding the definition of such offenses to include heinous acts like spraying antisemitic graffiti or spewing homophobic slurs.
The proposed Hate Crimes Modernization Act, expected to be considered by the state legislature when it reconvenes next year, would add 31 new offenses to the list of those that can be charged as hate crimes under New York’s penal code.
“Anti-Asian slurs at a Chinese restaurant or homophobic slurs at a gay bar can’t be charged as a hate crime. That too must be changed,” Bragg said during a news conference announcing the legislation at his Manhattan offices.
It comes in the wake of a spike in hate crimes in the state and the city, including anti-Asian attacks during the COVID pandemic and recent antisemitic assaults amid the conflict between Israel and Hamas terrorists.
“Hate crime does not discriminate,” Bragg said, as he called for the “common-sense fixes to our law.”
The bill was introduced in the Senate last week by state Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal (D-Manhattan) and is expected to be sponsored in the Assembly by Assemblymember Grace Lee (D-Manhattan).
4 Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who said his office has beefed up its Hate Crimes Unit in response to a spike in bias-related crimes in recent years, is supporting a proposed state law that expands the list of eligible offenses.G.N.Miller/NYPost
“When we don’t address or acknowledge hate, there’s a long-term corrosive effect on the community,” Lee, who is Asian-American and has been the target of a bias incident herself, told reporters Monday.
“Even a few years ago I was walking down the street with my young daughter when a woman threw a bottle at us and then yelled anti-Asian slurs against us,” she said. “We will continue to see hate crimes repeated again and again if we don’t address it and call it out.”
Statistics provided at Monday’s press conference show that there were 41 hate crimes reported in Manhattan alone last month, nearly double the 21 that were reported in the borough over the same month last year.
4 A pro-Palestinian protester in Manhattan flashes a swastika during an anti-Israeli demonstration. The growing conflict between Israel and radical Hamas terrorists has sparked a new round of antisemitic incidents in the five boroughs.Twitter/@StuartMeissner
Citywide, there were 101 hate crimes reported last month compared to 45 over the same time span in 2022, the data showed.
“Last month alone, reported hate crimes more than doubled compared to last October,” Bragg said, “And my office, sadly and radically, has nearly 140 open hate crime cases as we speak.”
Bragg said bias attacks typically follow “high-profile events” like the pandemic — and others including anti-black attacks during the Black Lives Matter movement and anti-immigrant bias due to the “xenophobic rhetoric” that became commonplace during the 2016 presidential race.
But prosecutors say they are handcuffed to fight the surge due to the limited list of 66 offenses that can be charged as hate crimes.
4 The growing conflict between Israel and Islamic terrorists, sparked by the Oct. 7 surprise attack on the Jewish state by Hamas, has sparked a new round of antisemitic incidents in the Big Apple, including by pro-Palestinian protesters.Debra L Rothenberg/Shutterstock
Under state law, dozens of crimes can be charged as hate crimes if it can be proven that they were motivated by bias, discrimination or racism.
The proposed law would grow the now-limited list to include new levels of offenses like gang assault, sexual assault, labor and sex trafficking, arson, falsely reporting an incident, weapons possession and graffiti-related crimes, the officials said.
“The current list of eligible offenses … contain glaring omissions and they do not comport with our practice, what we’re seeing day in and day out,” Bragg said.
For instance, “rape in the first degree can be charged as a hate crime, but other sexual assaults like forcible touching cannot,” Bragg said, “That too must be changed.”
4 A proposed state law seeks to expand the list of offenses that could qualify as hate crimes from 66 to 97, including graffiti, sex assault and other crimes. It was announced by Manhattan and state officials on Monday. Matthew McDermott
Bragg said his office has increased hate-crime prosecutions by 24% every year since 2021 and has beefed up its Hate Crimes Unit with a $1.7 million infusion of funding by the City Council last year.
The unit now has 15 cross-designated prosecutors, two supervisors and four senior investigators.
The Oct. 7 surprise attack on Israel by radical Hamas militants — and the subsequent Israeli retaliation in the Gaza Strip — has unleashed a new round of antisemitic attacks in the state and the Big Apple.
“This legislation will make law what any New Yorker knows — if a crime is motivated by bias or bigotry, then it’s a hate crime,” Hoylman-Sigal said. “Plain and simple.”