What I've Been Working On...

For the last year the council has been working on combining all the non-discrimination laws in one place...

Governor Announces Proposal to Simplify And Strengthen Hate Crime Laws

CT Junkie

By Jamil Ragland

January 31, 2025

The Connecticut Hate Crimes Advisory Council, along with Gov. Ned Lamont, law enforcement officials, and other advocates announced an effort to simplify and strengthen the state’s hate crimes statutes on Thursday.

The legislative proposal seeks to consolidate Connecticut’s multiple hate crime statutes, with some written as early as 1880, into one new hate crime chapter in the Connecticut General Statutes. The consolidation effort will also clarify the language of existing hate crime statutes by making the language used to describe protected groups uniform, as well as by removing the requirement under the law that a defendant must have acted “maliciously.”

Finally, the proposal will clearly define certain criminal acts as hate crimes, and offer enhanced penalties for individuals convicted of committing a hate crime. 

“The goal, of course, is to make sure that if any citizen in our state is subjected to a hate crime or a hate incident, they know there’s a place to go and that they will be heard by the state officials,” said Judge Douglas Levine, co-chair of the Connecticut Hate Crimes Advisory Council that led the consolidation effort. “The proposal coming out of this council to simplify and clarify the law of hate crimes, will be a good thing for the people, a good thing for the prosecutors, and yes, even a good thing for the defense lawyers because they will understand the law better.”

The Connecticut Hate Crimes Advisory Council was created by the General Assembly,  and members were appointed by the governor in June 2021. The council is tasked with increasing community awareness and reporting of hate crimes. It also can make recommendations for legislation concerning hate crimes, including recommendations on restitution for victims, community service designed to remedy damage caused by any such crime, and additional alternative sentencing programs for first-time offenders and juvenile offenders.

I know back when we passed the trans non-discrimination law there were discussions about doing this but the Republicans said they would add stronger religious exemption, but this time the Democrats have a veto proof margine.

“The proposal puts all the hate crimes in one place in the criminal code,” Pandya said. “That makes it easier for police to find them. It makes them more consistent in what they require and who they protect. That makes the law easier to understand and enforce. It adds hate crime penalty enhancements for crimes involving physical injury or property damage, including for murder, arson, and other more serious crimes.”

There will be a "Tip" line for hate crimes many people do not want to press charges so this is an alternative to pressing charge. At every meeting of the council we review the report from the state police's hare crime report. Hopefully this will be another tool in addressing hate crimes trands in the state.

This is more important than ever are Trump tries to nullify non-discriminations laws throughout the country.

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I believe that this has a good chance in passing, I think many of the legislators want to pass something DEI to fly in Trump's face/.