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Representative David Litvack deserves the plaudits of all Utahns for his persistent and now successful struggle to shepherd a meaningful and enforceable hate crimes bill through the legislative process.
A hate crimes law has been on the books since the early 90's, but prosecutors have long said it is unenforceable and virtually meaningless. For most of a decade, however, efforts to strengthen the law have met stiff resistance on Capitol Hill.
The effort to update the law began with the late Senator Pete Suazo. Representative Litvack took up the cause when he was elected in 2000. Each year, the Salt Lake City democrat offered updated versions of his bill, only to be consistently rebuffed by colleagues who objected to creating what they considered to be "protected classes" of citizens.
This year, Litvack changed his approach and eliminated mention of specific groups. It led to a compromise that lawmakers finally bought into. Now, a judge or the Board of Pardons will be able to increase penalties for crimes where "aggravating circumstances" cause "public harm and community unrest."
In KSL's view, it is entirely appropriate to punish more severely those criminals who perpetuate their hateful deeds because of bias or prejudice toward another. We thank Representative Litvack for his persistence. This is a measure the State of Utah needs.
