NYS Lawmakers Must Rethink Domestic Violence as a Hate Crime

The National Organization for Women-NYS will hold a press conference Thursday, February 26th, 2009, 11:00 AM. Location is Room 130 in the Legislative Office Building, Albany, NY to stand in solidarity with Assemblywoman Patricia Eddington to support new legislation that will ensure that crimes against women are first looked at as hate crimes.

Marcia Pappas, President of NOW NYS states, "Whether this crime leads to injuries or death, the watering down of the charges against the perpetrator is not acceptable."

The word "gender" is already included in the New York State "hate crimes" definition. The NYS Penal Code reads as follows: "Penal § 485.05 Hate crimes. 1. A person commits a hate crime when he or she commits a specified offense and either: (a) intentionally selects the person against whom the offense is committed or intended to be committed in whole or in substantial part because of a belief or perception regarding the race, color, national origin, ancestry, gender, religion, religious practice, age, disability or sexual orientation of a person, regardless of whether the belief or perception is correct..."

According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence "One in every four women will experience domestic violence in her lifetime. An estimated 1.3 million women are victims of physical assault by an intimate partner each year. The majority (73%) of family violence victims are female. Females are 84% of spousal abuse victims and 86% of abuse victims at the hands of a boyfriend."

Pappas further states, "The answer in NYS is the inclusion of 'domestic violence' as a hate crime, and mandated equal enforcement of the assault laws and appropriate judicial response. When a police officer is called to the scene of a violent assault against a woman by her husband/partner, the officer must arrest the perpetrator for a hate crime. And this mandated arrest needs to be judicially enforced. All too often judges shrug their shoulders and look the other way. These cases should be regarded by judges as "hate crimes," with no talk of "he only did it once, or it's a crime of passion." Such excuses are not acceptable. And since men are taught from day one that women do not deserve respect, this deliberately-cultivated mindset actually constitutes premeditation."