What Is A Bias Crime.

Well first off it is just another name for hate crimes but is more descriptive because not all bias crimes involve hate, a lot of them are just plaon discriminatory.

I weekly check the legislative website and search it for keywords, well this popped up this week. From time to time the legislature asks the neutral Office of Legislative Research to research a topic, this is their findings on...

Connecticut Hate Crime Laws
By: Michelle Kirby, Senior Legislative Attorney
February 1, 2024 | 2024-R-0043

Summary
Connecticut has several statutes that address hate crimes. The statutes protect a range of people, enhance penalties for bias crimes, and allow injured parties and the attorney general to sue for money damages.

The primary criminal statutes are the “intimidation based on bigotry or bias” crimes with three degrees of penalties. They address certain actions that intimidate or harass another person motivated, in whole or in substantial part, by that person’s actual or perceived race, religion, ethnicity, disability, sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity or expression. The other criminal statutes that address hate crimes include the following:

1. deprivation of rights, desecration of property, and cross burning;
2. deprivation of a person’s civil rights by someone wearing a mask or hood;
3. ridicule on account of creed, religion, color, denomination, nationality, or race;
4. certain threatening crimes; and
5. deprivation of a person’s equal rights and privileges by force or threat.

Notice number 2, “by someone wearing a mask or hood” how many time have you seen the right-wing thugs wearing a mask? Here in Connecticut that bumps up the crime, more on this later.

First of all bias crimes have 3 levels of crime…

First-Degree Intimidation
A person commits the 1st degree crime of intimidation based on bigotry or bias if he or she, maliciously and with specific intent to intimidate or harass someone, motivated in whole or substantial part by any of the actual or perceived attributes listed above, caused physical injury to that person or a third person (CGS § 53a-181j). 2024-R-0043 February 1, 2024 Page 3 of 10

Second-Degree Intimidation
A person commits the 2nd degree crime of intimidation if he or she acts maliciously and with specific intent to intimidate or harass another individual or a group of people, motivated in whole or substantial part by any of the actual or perceived attributes listed above, by doing the following:

1. making physical contact with the victim;
2. damaging, destroying, or defacing property; or
3. threatening to do either of these things, and the victim has reasonable cause to believe he or she will carry out the threat (CGS § 53a-181k).

Third-Degree Intimidation
A person commits the 3rd degree crime of intimidation if he or she intends to intimidate or harass someone or a group of people, motivated in whole or substantial part by of any of the actual or perceived attributes listed above, and he or she (1) damages, destroys, or defaces any property or (2) threatens to do so by word or act or advocates or urges another person to do so and gives the victim reasonable cause to believe the act will occur (CGS § 53a-181l).

Notice “perceived attributes” that means that you don’t need to have transitioned and it also means that you don’t have to be LGBTQ+ the person just has to think you are LGBTQ+. Plus it also covers someone LGBTQ+ harassing a straight person, they are also covered.

Deprivation of Rights, Desecration of Property, and Cross Burning
It is a crime to do the following:

1. deprive someone, or cause the deprivation, of any legally guaranteed right because of his or her religion, national origin, alienage, color, race, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, blindness, mental disability, physical disability, age, veteran status, or domestic violence victim status;
2. intentionally desecrate any public property, monument, or structure; religious object, symbol, or house of worship; cemetery; or private structure not owned by the offender;
3. place a burning cross or simulation of one on public property, or on private property without the owner’s written consent, with the intent to intimidate or harass someone or a group of people; or
4. place a noose or simulation of one on public property, or on private property without the owner’s written consent, with the intent to harass someone because of his or her religion, national origin, alienage, color, race, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, blindness, mental disability, physical disability, age, veteran status, or domestic violence victim status (CGS § 46a-58, as amended by PA 23-145, § 1).

Okay, masks are becoming more common during protests by the right-wing radicals and that opens up a major crime, a Class C felony (1 to 10 years in prison, a fine of up to $10,000, or both) without a mask it would be a Class D felony (up to five years in prison, a fine of up to $5,000, or both).

Here is another important point…

Threatening Crimes
First-Degree Threatening
By law, 1st degree threatening includes threatening to commit a violent crime or a crime using a hazardous substance with intent to cause, or with reckless disregard of the risk of causing (1) evacuation of a building, place of assembly, or public transportation facility or (2) serious public inconvenience; or (3) for hazardous substance crimes, a person to be terrorized.

First-degree threatening is a class D felony. The law enhances the penalty to a class C felony if the threat was made with intent to cause the evacuation of the building or grounds of a house of religious worship, religiously-affiliated community center, preschool, school, higher education institution, or day care center during operating hours or when the buildings or grounds are being used to (1) provide religious or community services or (2) conduct activities sponsored by the house of worship, community center, preschool, school, institution, or day care (CGS § 53a-61aa).

A “religiously-affiliated community center” is real property (1) used for providing recreational, social, or educational services and (2) owned or leased by a nonprofit organization that holds the property out as being affiliated with an organized religion (CGS § 53a-61aa(b)).

The law has teeth!

The next part is the work of the committee that I am on,

Statewide Hate Crimes Advisory Council

In 2017, the legislature created the Statewide Hate Crimes Advisory Council (replacing the Hate Crimes Advisory Committee). The council is within the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney for administrative purposes only.

The council must meet at least semiannually to encourage and coordinate programs to increase community awareness, reporting, and combating of hate crimes. [We meet every other months and the sub committees meet on the off months.]

Some of out recommendations were…

Hate Crimes Investigative Unit
The law requires the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection (DESPP) commissioner to establish a Hate Crimes Investigative Unit within the State Police and assign enough personnel to the unit to fulfill the duties described below. The head of the Hate Crimes Investigative Unit must be ranked sergeant or above and must serve as a member of the Statewide Hate Crimes Advisory Council (see below) (CGS § 29-4(d)).

Investigative Unit’s Duties. The Hate Crimes Investigative Unit must seek to prevent and detect actual or suspected criminal activity involving (1) deprivation of rights or desecration of property; (2) certain ridiculing, threatening, and stalking actions; and (3) intimidation based on bigotry or bias.

Relatedly, the unit must compile, monitor, and analyze data about these criminal activities. It must also share data and information with other law enforcement units to help with their investigations of the criminal activities listed above, and it may provide additional help with those investigations (CGS § 29-7d(a)).

[…]

Law Enforcement Reporting. Starting January 1, 2023, all law enforcement units must use POST’s [Police Officer Standards and Training] standardized form or other reporting system to submit a notice and report to the Hate Crimes Investigative Unit within 14 days after receiving a notice, information, or a complaint of the criminal activities described above. Each unit must also continue to share information about its investigations with the Hate Crimes Investigative Unit according to the best practices developed by POST (CGS § 29-7d(c)).

Police Training
Basic or review training programs conducted or administered by the State Police, POST, or municipal police departments must include training on crimes motivated by bigotry and bias (CGS §7-294n).
I hope this helps you understand what is and is not a bias crime and the penalties for it are and that the governor is working to reduce bias crimes.

*****

We are never going to end bias crimes but hopefully we can reduce them substantially. "It takes a village to raise a child" and it also takes a village to end bias and discrimination, we all have to speak up… “If you hear mean intervene.”