Hate Crimes Bill - What Changed?

by PAMELA MANSON

In the past, the LDS church has been blamed more than once for blocking attempts to give Utah a stronger hate crimes law. This year, the church could be the reason a bill increasing penalties for bias offenses gets passed.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is not opposing hate crimes legislation, including a bill that would punish offenders who acted because of their perception of a victim’s gender identity or sexual orientation, among other personal attributes.

That stance by Utah’s predominant faith is expected to boost the prospects of SB103, a bill that would enhance the sentences of offenders who select victims based on certain characteristics.

“I think it has a great chance this year,” said Sen. Daniel Thatcher, R-West Valley City.

This is the third consecutive year that Thatcher has sponsored the legislation, which is titled Victim Targeting Penalty Enhancement. SB103 would increase the punishment by one step for selecting victims based on ancestry, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, national origin, race, religion or sexual orientation or damaging property based on the owner having any of those characteristics.

No one has ever been convicted under the current law, which applies only to class B and C misdemeanors. For sentencing purposes, a class C misdemeanor is treated as a class B misdemeanor and a class B misdemeanor is treated as a class A misdemeanor when the defendant has been convicted of a hate crime.

Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill believes current law was a façade created to show that Utah has a hate-crimes statute without actually empowering prosecutions. Whatever animus existed against the targets of hate crimes, “manifested itself into a statute that gave no justice,” he said.

The fight to get a stronger hate-crimes law stretches back for more than two decades and has stalled repeatedly.

Three years ago, a statement from the LDS Church cautioning state legislators against passing laws that would “alter the balance” between religious liberties and gay and transgender rights established in a nondiscrimination bill in 2015 was blamed by some for killing hate-crimes legislation.

In 2016, a bill to increase penalties for hate crimes, which was supported by prosecutors and many churches, failed after the LDS Church made its statement about maintaining the balance achieved the previous year between lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights and religious freedom. In 2017 and 2018, the LDS Church stayed out of any discussion about hate crimes, and bills on bias offenses faltered.

So, what happened to prompt the church to say something in 2019?

“I think the Church was tired of getting blamed for it (a hate-crimes bill) not getting a hearing,” Thatcher said. “For the record, I have never blamed the church. I blame people who speak on behalf of the church without authority.”

Gill also said some opponents of hate crime legislation were misappropriating the Mormon church’s stand on the issue.

“The silence from the LDS church was being used as a rationalization and justification not to support this legislation,” Gill said.

Former state senator Jim Dabakis believes not opposing a hate-crimes bill isn’t enough for approval by the Legislature, where most members are LDS. He thinks passage depends on whether the lobbyist for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints says yes to the measure.

“It matters what that one man says,” he said.

Another factor that could have prompted the church’s non-opposition stance is the severe beating of a Latino man and his son at the father’s Salt Lake City tire shop in December. The attack got nationwide publicity because of the inability of state prosecutors to bring hate crime charges against the defendant.

Troy Williams, executive director of Equality Utah, said hate crimes have been spiking in Utah and around the nation.  He pointed out that historically, Latter-day Saints and members of the LGBTQ community have been victims of those crimes.

“All of us can agree that people shouldn’t be targeted for hate crimes for who they are,” Williams said.

FBI statistics show that there were 78 reported hate crimes in Utah in 2017. Of those, 51 were motivated by the victim’s race, ethnicity or ancestry; 15 by religion; eight by sexual orientation; and four by gender identity. There were 66 reported hate crimes in 2016.

A defendant who is convicted of a misdemeanor or a felony bias crime would be subject to the one-step enhancement in punishment. For example, a class A misdemeanor would be treated as a third-degree felony and a second-degree felony would be treated as a first-degree felony.

SB103 and the current statute both specify that their provisions do not limit any individual's constitutional right to the lawful expression of free speech. Thatcher said his measure is not a hate-crimes bill because “you can’t prove hate in a court of law.”

“This is 100 percent about criminal actions,” he said.