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- Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive
- Path: sparky!uunet!europa.asd.contel.com!darwin.sura.net!wupost!mont!pencil.cs.missouri.edu!rich
- From: Nigel.Allen@lambada.oit.unc.edu
- Subject: ADL Dismayed by Ohio Court Decision Striking Down Hate Crimes Law
- Message-ID: <1992Aug27.195954.12974@mont.cs.missouri.edu>
- Followup-To: alt.activism.d
- Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
- Sender: news@mont.cs.missouri.edu
- Nntp-Posting-Host: pencil.cs.missouri.edu
- Organization: Echo Beach
- Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 19:59:54 GMT
- Approved: map@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
- Lines: 32
-
- Here is a press release from the Anti-Defamation League.
-
- ADL Dismayed by Ohio Court Decision Striking Down Hate Crimes Law
- To: National Desk
- Contact: Myrna Shinbaum, 212-490-2525, ext. 145, or
- Steve Freeman, 212-490-2525, ext. 113
- both of the Anti-Defamation League
-
- NEW YORK, Aug. 26 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The Anti-Defamation League
- (ADL) today expressed dismay at the Ohio Supreme Court decision
- striking down that state's hate crimes law as unconstitutional. The
- league had filed an amicus brief urging that the law be upheld.
- "Contrary to the reasoning of the Ohio Supreme Court, we do not
- believe that Ohio's hate crimes law punishes bad ideas," said Melvin
- Salberg, ADL national chairman, and Abraham H. Foxman, the league's
- national director. "The law enhances the penalty for crimes
- motivated by bias, and only comes into play after a crime is
- committed," they added. "Citizens of Ohio are entitled to think and
- believe as they choose without state interference, but if their
- bigotry prompts them to engage in criminal conduct, the state should
- be able to punish that conduct as it sees fit."
- Ohio is one of many states which have enacted penalty enhancement
- hate crimes laws based on or similar to an ADL model statute. It is
- likely that the Supreme Court will agree to review this approach in
- its next term, and the ADL remains confident of its constitutional
- soundness. Certainly at a time when bias-motiviated crimes are on
- the rise and many communities are tinderboxes of hate waiting to
- explode, the need for special laws to combat such crimes could not be
- greater, said the ADL.
- -30-
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