Hate Crime Cases Have Risen

In a story published Dec. 17th in the New York Times
the Justice Department has had an increase in hate crime
cases. Filings of these new cases has reached previous levels
not seen since 2001. Does this mean that the Bush
administration dragged it's feet on hate crimes during the
eight years it ran the country? Certainly looks that way to
me. What do you think? Check out the article below.





Two days after the Justice Department
announced federal indictments related to the fatal
beating of a Mexican immigrant in Shenandoah, Pa.,
federal authorities said the charges were part of a
larger effort to step up civil rights enforcement after
nearly eight years of decreased hate crime prosecutions.
Thomas E. Perez, head of the Justice Department’s
Civil Rights Division, said the department brought
more federal hate crime cases this year than in any
other year since 2001.

During the budget year that ended in September, 25
hate crime cases were filed, Mr. Perez said. By
comparison, that number fell to a low of 12 in 2006,
before rising to 23 in 2008. In 2001, 31 such cases
were filed.

Mr. Perez said he was “shocked to see the downtick
in prosecutions of hate crimes” during the
George W. Bush administration, adding, “The Civil Rights
Division is again open for business.”Mr. Perez’s comments
came after a federal indictment released Tuesday charged
Chief Matthew Nestor, Lt. William Moyer and Officer Jason
Hayes of the Shenandoah police with obstruction of justice.

They are accusing of writing false and misleading reports
about the beating death of Luís Ramírez, a 25-year-old
illegal immigrant. At the time of Mr. Ramírez’s death in
July 2008, Officer Hayes was dating the mother of one of
the white teenagers accused in the case, and Lieutenant Moyer’s
son was on the high school football team with the teenagers.





This Article Continues Here





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