This is a bit late in coming, but tonight we’re going to be discussing hate crime legislation, hopefully using the case of the Jena 6 as a real-world example.
In August of 2006, a black student in Jena, LA asked his principal if a group if black students could sit under a tree in a schoolyard that had been historically regarded as “The White Tree.” Just to provide some demographic background, at this at this school, 10 percent of the students are black, and 85 percent are white. Some people have suggested that people of different racial groups rarely sat together. The next day, several white students hung nooses from the tree. They were suspended, but the US Attorney’s office and the F.B.I chose to not bring hate crime charges against any of the students involved in the noose hanging.
After media attention began to focus on the school, and tensions continued to rise, a fight broke out in December of 2006 in which six black youths ganged up on a white student (he was released from the hospital and later in the evening attended a school event). The six youths were arrested for the beating– five were originally charged as adults with attempted second-degree murder (these charges were later reduced), and one student was convicted of aggravated second-degree battery (this conviction was also thrown out, with the an appeals court ruling that the student had been mistakenly tried as an adult).
This case is highly emotional and extremely nuanced - space and time constraints don’t permit me to go into the details of the case, although I strongly suggest that you all look into the case if you haven’t already- charges have been changed, reversed, or dropped; there have been plenty of questionable and contentious judicial decisions (for example, when Mychal Bell was tried for aggravated second-degree battery, the DA argued that the tennis shoes Bell was wearing and used to kick with were deadly weapons, an argument the jury ultimately agreed with); and the in the end, the six students are still awaiting retrials.
The Jena case has sparked passionate discussions about discrimination in the legal system, particularly the juvenile justice system (and the trying of minors as adults). However, the Jena case also ties into the question of hate or bias crime legislation in several ways. Bias crime laws enhance penalties for crimes if they are motivated by some level of prejudice or discrimination against a certain identity group - and often include penalties for intimidation, vandalism, and harassment. Some questions to consider:
1. Why weren’t hate crime charges brought against the students who hung nooses from the “White Tree” in response to an attempt by black students to sit underneath it?
2. Could hate crime charges have been brought against the “Jena 6″? Can historically oppressed minority groups be subject to enhanced punishment for crimes supposedly motivated by bias?
3. Do hate crime laws help to deter acts of intimidation and violence against minority groups? And how effective can such legislation be if, as some critics have charged, the legal system itself can be undermined by discrimination?
For more info on Jena, check out
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/national/usstatesterritoriesandpossessions/louisiana/jena/index.html?8qa
And for some information on recent developments with federal hate crime legislation:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/03/washington/03cnd-hate.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
-Camilla Hawthorne