Legal Commentary

The Holocaust Museum and Domestic Hate Crimes

By Jeralyn

CBS Legal Analyst Andrew Cohen writes in Vanity Fair today on the Holocaust museum shooting and state of domestic hate crimes.

Hate—and hateful, violent action—is on the rise not in response to government’s gross negligence (Waco) or overzealousness (Ruby Ridge), but because of who our current leaders are, what they stand for, and the policy choices they are making. [More...]

Unless conservatives, liberals, and independents honestly and candidly and bravely address this threat together, I fear things are again going to get worse before they get better. That means there is no longer any place in mainstream, legitimate commentary for people to deny that there is a big problem, to ignore where it is coming from, or to pretend that the government’s efforts to raise the alarm are anything but earnest.

Columnist Earl Ofari Hutchinson goes even further, blaming "lax law enforcement:

One answer is that von Brunn and the thousands of others that rant, rail, and spew hate in speeches, on websites, in videos and in their fringe, kooky publications are simply exercising their first amendment right; a right that can't be abridged no matter how scary they sound. von Bunn has that right.

The other answer is that even when the von Brunns are known tracked, monitored and surveilled and worse commit hate acts, they often evade full punishment. This has nothing to do with the First Amendment, but rather muddled, confused, and outright lax enforcement and prosecution of hate acts. The FBI and local law enforcement agencies long knew about von Brunn's propensity for violence. But even if he had committed a violent act in his home state of Maryland he still might not have been prosecuted under state and especially federal hate crime statutes.

Federal prosecutors are loath to step on the toes of police and prosecutors in criminal cases no matter how badly the crime is tainted by race, gender or religious hatred. Federal prosecutors flatly say that the hate perpetrators are more likely to be convicted and get stiff sentences in state court. That makes good legal and political sense.

Of course, I disagree with Hutchinson. The last thing we need are more crimes and prosecutions based on thoughts instead of actions. This is a very slippery slope.

I'll be talking about von Brunn and domestic terrorists today with my pal lawyer Mickey Sherman on his radio show, Sherman's Law. We'll also be talking about whether we would represent von Brunn (in keeping with the theme of his book, How Can You Defend Those People?) It will be around 4:05 pm ET on WCGH-AM (CT and NY) and will also stream live online.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on June 11, 2009 (boomark / email).