Posted on 02/28/2007 8:47:27 AM PST by pissant
Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani today joined with anti-hate crime groups, Staten Island Borough President Guy Molinari, and the District Attorneys of Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island to unveil a new initiative that will help reduce the number of hate crimes and enhance hate crime investigations and prosecutions in New York City. The sweeping initiative includes the allocation of almost $4 million for the creation of a Hate Crimes Task Force within the NYPD and an additional $1.2 million in funding for the City's District Attorneys to enhance prosecutions of hate crime offenders. The City will also establish a new 24-hour, hate-crime hotline -- 888-440-HATE.
Also joining the Mayor at the announcement were Police Commissioner Howard Safir; Criminal Justice Coordinator Steven Fishner; representatives of the Bronx and Brooklyn District Attorneys; Iman Pasha; Edison Jackson of Medgar Evers College; and representatives of the Anti-Defamation League, the Gay Men's Health Crisis, the Empire Pride Agenda, the Anti-Violence Project, and the Domestic Violence for Chinatown Planning Association.
"Every hate crime is a crime against our City, since it strikes at the diversity upon which New York thrives," the Mayor said. "Over the last several years, the Police Department and the City's District Attorneys have made tremendous strides in reducing the incidence of hate crime. This initiative will enable our City to make further progress toward eliminating crimes driven by hatred and ignorance, and it will encourage more victims to come forward."
The Mayor continued, "I also again call upon the State legislature and Congress to enact hate crimes legislation that recognizes the severity of hate crimes and imposes the appropriate penalties."
Police Commissioner Howard Safir said, "The new Hate Crimes Task Force will enable the NYPD to investigate hate crimes more effectively. It will help us identify those who have a history of committing bias crimes and help us prevent other bias crimes from taking place. The Hate Crimes Task Force will create an environment where no one will believe that they can commit a hate crime in this City without being apprehended and prosecuted."
Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau said, "Crimes motivated by hate and bias have especially pernicious effects on society. The expansion of police and prosecution resources will enhance the ability of law enforcement to effectively investigate, prosecute and bring appropriate sanctions to bear on those who perpetrate these most serious offenses."
Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown said, "Crimes motivated by ethnic or racial bias - particularly those involving violence - are deplorable and can never be tolerated. The Mayor's initiative will help all of us in the law enforcement community to more aggressively investigate and prosecute bias crimes. It sends a strong message that crimes motivated by hate are to be condemned and that when they do, regrettably, occur they will be vigorously prosecuted and severely punished."
Richmond County District Attorney Bill Murphy said, "The prosecution of bias crimes has always been one of my top priorities. In fact, when I was president of the New York State District Attorney Association in the late 1980s, I convinced the Association to change its position and support the passage of hate crimes legislation. Although the State Senate has not yet passed this much-needed provision calling for tougher penalties against bias crimes, I was delighted to learn that my office will be receiving additional funding to actively pursue bias cases and conduct thorough investigations."
As part of the initiative, the Hate Crimes Task Force will receive $3.8 million in funding to quadruple staffing; create a sophisticated hate crimes database to monitor bias incidents and track hate organizations; establish a hate crime prevention training program aimed at elementary and middle school students; and increase the budget for special hate crime investigations, such as the ongoing investigation into the recent acts of vandalism against religious symbols. The additional funding will also enable the Hate Crimes Task Force to increase community outreach and improve coordination with federal, state and local agencies and the City's five District Attorneys. The $1.2 million allocated to the District Attorneys will enable them to devote more personnel and resources to hate crime investigations and prosecutions.
NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force personnel will be deployed to designated areas of the City based on analyses of the number of bias incidents, types of crimes, patterns and community concerns. The Task Force will deploy personnel based upon reported bias incidents and emerging patterns.
Since 1996, the number of bias incidents has declined 24 percent, from 513 reported incidents citywide in 1996 to 390 incidents in 1999. As a result of the creation of a 24-hour hotline and increased community outreach and information efforts, the City expects more hate crime victims to come forward, resulting in an increase in the number of reported hate crime incidents.
Dear babygene,
"'How conservative of Mr. Giuliani'
"uh... He's not."
That's not what the rudybots are telling us.
sitetest
..yes, this is definitely a conservative move... /sarcasm
To quote the Rudybots:
"But this is old news -- this was March, 2000. Rudy is a conservative now!"
__________-
Apparently the rudybots and the romneybots speak the same language.
As John Gorka once wrote "if it's all in the past, why doesn't it stay there?"
I suppose this legislation never got enacted, as 9/11 did occur in NYC.
Do you suppose the relevant authorities in NYC considered the 9/11 attacks a "hate crime"?
From the sounds of the press release, it was imminent.
Ah, the Deacons of Defense, IIRC.
Actually, I'm all for "love crime" legislation. Like if you kill someone but you really liked him, you get a lesser sentence.
Dear babygene,
I wouldn't vote for Al Gore, but neither would I vote for Mr. Giuliani.
If it's Giuliani vs. Gore, or vs. Clinton, or vs. just about any other Dem on the horizon, I'll be looking at the different third parties.
Ironically, when Mr. Gore first ran for the presidency in 1988, he positioned himself as a moderately-conservative Dem. He'd previously been adamantly pro-life, but had switched by the time of the 1988 election (if I remember correctly), but didn't mind letting the impression that he was still pro-life linger in the minds of conservative Democrats.
Of course, now he's a pretty doctrinaire liberal, and a nutjob, as well.
sitetest
"how liberal you are." =how liberal you are doesn't seem to matter.
If NYC can commit funds for BS like this, they can quit whining about being at the back of the line for Homeland Defense funds.
I like that....
Really? Does the Congressman not realize that our laws already recognize differing degrees of murder? Premediated murder is always treated more harshly than murder resulting from the heat of the moment.
It is a good thing for Congressman Duncan that he didn't say this in a debate with Rudy because Rudy would have ripped him a new one.
Rudy could score some political points by making it clear that hate crimes will be applied even-handedly. "Wilding" against whites is just as repulsive as a group of whites lynching someone. Racial bigotry goes both directions and if one direction is punished under the law, then the other should be as well.
John Gorka is a folk singer. Those are people who serenade Bill O'Reilly's constituency.
BS. Hate crime is thought crime. Differing degrees of murder have to do with intent, premeditation, and such.
Racial bigotry in private life is NOT against the law and never should be. Acting on that bigotry to harm someone is.
Here it tis from the Great One, Mark Levin:
There is actually very little that's conservative about Giuliani, other than his law-enforcement record. Yes, he made the trains run on time, but some of his supporters are willing to write-off large segments of the conservative coalition, which are not found in New York City or the District of Columbia, with their wave-of-the-hand dismissal of serious issues Giuliani will have to overcome. But please, spare us the fiction that he's some great conservative. If I vote for him, it will be because all the Democrats are so deplorable, not because of his embrace of radical environmentalism, open borders, gun control, abortion, and the rest of it. And, yes, he's leading in national popular polls. But that's not how nominees are selected, is it. You have to battle in each state, and the process is full of unexpected political dangers. So, I'd say it's a little early to declare a winner. It's painful to watch people pretend that Giuliani is something he is not and never has been.
http://levin.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NzhiNWNiNGJlNDhjNjA4YzYzZDZkMWJkMTQwYWMwNTY=
Now, now...Take a sip of Kool-Aid and repeat after me, "Rudy is conservative, Rudy can beat Hillary." Now, don't you see that hate crime legislation is really a conservative idea? So is gun control, the idea of man-made global warming, abortion on demand and the homosexual agenda.
Yup.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.