Combined sources
(Boston, MA) — A national spike in anti-Asian hate crimes — including a recent mass shooting in Atlanta that left eight people dead, six of them women of Asian descent — is prompting state lawmakers to push a bill they say would expand and clarify hate crime laws in Massachusetts. The Senate co-sponsor of the bill, Democratic Sen. Adam Hinds, said the bill “is about saying loudly and clearly that violent bigotry is not acceptable.”
He said the bill is not about creating new laws but combining and improving hate crimes laws already on the books. He also said the bill does not step on First Amendment rights and would not create new mandatory minimum sentences.
Besides adding gender and immigration status as protected classes, the bill seeks to make sentencing proportional to actions, strengthen penalties for repeat offenders, and clarify that bias has to be contributing factor — but not the only factor — for the hate crimes statute to kick in.
Massachusetts needs to send a clear message that hate crimes will not be tolerated, state Attorney General Maura Healey said.