Tag: hate crimes
A federal case in Texas illustrates how the internet has widened the scope of hate crime laws in the United States. A man from Dallas pleaded guilty this month to one hate crime stemming from a scheme that targeted gay men on the dating app Grindr. Daniel Jenkins, 22, pleaded guilty to one hate crime…
Few crimes have caused the degree of national outcry and soul-searching as the killing of 22 people at a Walmart store in El Paso last summer. Now the North Texas man accused of the mass shooting has been charged with hate crimes and nearly 100 federal crimes. Patrick Crusius has been charged with both federal…
Hate crimes are rising in Texas and Dallas saw more than any other city in the state in 2018, according to recently-released figures. The Federal Bureau of Investigations’ statistics for 2018 showed the number of hate crimes committed in Texas rose by nearly 240% from 2017 to 2018. The figures in the Uniform Crime Prevention…
Texas is no stranger to hate crimes that target minorities. In recent months, the Dallas community has been shocked by a series of deadly attacks on transgender women. In May, hundreds of people from the LGBTQ+ community attended the funeral of Muhlaysia Booker, a 22-year-old transgender woman who was shot and killed. Her body was…
Texas has had a hate crime statute since 2001. However, the law is used sparingly and many people who are arrested for hate crimes are not eventually convicted. Hate crime charges can also be brought by the federal authorities. Last month, a 26-year-old man was convicted of a federal hate crime for burning down a…
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has reiterated his determination to make violence against police officers a hate crime after a law enforcement officer was shot dead in San Antonio. Detective Benjamin Marconi, a 50-year-old police officer, was shot in the head on Sunday after he pulled over a vehicle near San Antonio police headquarters building in…
Hate crimes are not always easy to define. In some cases, it’s easy to recognize an offense as a hate crime. For example, violence against someone who wears particular religious clothing is widely acknowledged as a hate crime. In Oklahoma, a man was recently charged with a hate crime after he murdered his neighbor for…
Hate crimes are committed when a victim is targeted due to their race, sexual orientation or other factors such as their religion. The federal law is triggered in these cases and it often means more jail time for a defendant who is convicted. Under federal law the hate crime legislation may be brought in when…
Charges related to graffiti don’t often lead to jail time but a former Dallas mayoral candidate could face a third degree felony charge if he is accused of targeting monuments with significance to the lesbian and gay community, say police. The Dallas Morning News reported how nine months after a dozen locations — including the…