What is Bias Crimes Legislation?
It is a legislation that would allow the judge to aggregate the sentence if a criminal offence was committed against a person, property, group of people motivated, in whole or part, by the offender’s bias against a religion, race, disability, gender, sexual orientation, or national origin.
Our Advocacy Efforts:
Prior to the 2019 legislative session, Indiana Muslim Advocacy Network joined Indiana Forward, a bipartisan advocacy group, whose members include major state employers, faith groups, nonprofits, the Indy Chamber, trade groups and universities. Indiana Forward supported Governor Holcomb’s call for “inclusive” hate crimes legislation. Such legislation would allow judges to increase criminal sentences when the crime was motivated by bias toward a victim’s characteristics that include race, ethnicity, religion, national origin, sex, disability, gender identity, and sexual orientation.
In January 2019, State lawmakers filed 11 bills that would allow judges to impose tougher sentences for bias-motivated crimes, including Senate Bill 12, which met the inclusive standard sought by Indiana Forward and Gov. Holcomb. All of the Senate bills were assigned to the Rules Committee, where President Pro Tem Rod Bray could control their fate. The committee approved the bill on a 9-1 vote after more than 3 hours of testimony. Sen. Phil Boots (R-Crawfordsville) was the sole “no” vote. SB 12 would have allowed judges to impose longer sentences for crimes motivated by bias toward a victim’s characteristics, including race, ethnicity, religion, national origin, sex, disability, gender identity, and sexual orientation.
The day after SB 12 passed committee with the inclusive provisions sought by advocates, Sen. Aaron Freeman (R-Indianapolis) offered a floor amendment that stripped the list of characteristics from the bill and replaced it with language that simply allowed a court to consider “bias” in deciding whether to lengthen a criminal sentence. The amendment was approved 33-16. On February 21, SB 12 was approved by the full Senate on a 39-10 vote. Sen. Ron Alting was the sole Republican to cast a “no” vote.
Senate Bill 12 moved to the House of Representatives and was assigned to the House Courts & Criminal Code Committee, where it did not receive a hearing. In late March, Rep. Greg Steuerwald amended unrelated legislation (Senate Bill 198) with language that allows a judge to increase a criminal sentence if “the person committed the offense with bias due to the victim's or the group's real or perceived characteristic, trait, belief, practice, association, or other attribute the court chooses to consider, including but not limited to an attribute described in IC 10-13-3-1.” (IC 10-13-3-1 is the state’s existing bias crime reporting law. Attributes listed are color, creed, disability, national origin, race, religion, and sexual orientation.)
SB 198 passed the House 57-39. The Senate subsequently concurred with the changes on a 34-14 vote. Because the hate crime language was added to SB 198 in a floor amendment, there was no opportunity for testimony from the public. On April 3, 2019: Gov. Eric Holcomb signs watered-down hate crimes bill.
It is a legislation that would allow the judge to aggregate the sentence if a criminal offence was committed against a person, property, group of people motivated, in whole or part, by the offender’s bias against a religion, race, disability, gender, sexual orientation, or national origin.
Our Advocacy Efforts:
Prior to the 2019 legislative session, Indiana Muslim Advocacy Network joined Indiana Forward, a bipartisan advocacy group, whose members include major state employers, faith groups, nonprofits, the Indy Chamber, trade groups and universities. Indiana Forward supported Governor Holcomb’s call for “inclusive” hate crimes legislation. Such legislation would allow judges to increase criminal sentences when the crime was motivated by bias toward a victim’s characteristics that include race, ethnicity, religion, national origin, sex, disability, gender identity, and sexual orientation.
In January 2019, State lawmakers filed 11 bills that would allow judges to impose tougher sentences for bias-motivated crimes, including Senate Bill 12, which met the inclusive standard sought by Indiana Forward and Gov. Holcomb. All of the Senate bills were assigned to the Rules Committee, where President Pro Tem Rod Bray could control their fate. The committee approved the bill on a 9-1 vote after more than 3 hours of testimony. Sen. Phil Boots (R-Crawfordsville) was the sole “no” vote. SB 12 would have allowed judges to impose longer sentences for crimes motivated by bias toward a victim’s characteristics, including race, ethnicity, religion, national origin, sex, disability, gender identity, and sexual orientation.
The day after SB 12 passed committee with the inclusive provisions sought by advocates, Sen. Aaron Freeman (R-Indianapolis) offered a floor amendment that stripped the list of characteristics from the bill and replaced it with language that simply allowed a court to consider “bias” in deciding whether to lengthen a criminal sentence. The amendment was approved 33-16. On February 21, SB 12 was approved by the full Senate on a 39-10 vote. Sen. Ron Alting was the sole Republican to cast a “no” vote.
Senate Bill 12 moved to the House of Representatives and was assigned to the House Courts & Criminal Code Committee, where it did not receive a hearing. In late March, Rep. Greg Steuerwald amended unrelated legislation (Senate Bill 198) with language that allows a judge to increase a criminal sentence if “the person committed the offense with bias due to the victim's or the group's real or perceived characteristic, trait, belief, practice, association, or other attribute the court chooses to consider, including but not limited to an attribute described in IC 10-13-3-1.” (IC 10-13-3-1 is the state’s existing bias crime reporting law. Attributes listed are color, creed, disability, national origin, race, religion, and sexual orientation.)
SB 198 passed the House 57-39. The Senate subsequently concurred with the changes on a 34-14 vote. Because the hate crime language was added to SB 198 in a floor amendment, there was no opportunity for testimony from the public. On April 3, 2019: Gov. Eric Holcomb signs watered-down hate crimes bill.