Thursday, May 03, 2007

Hate Crimes and Local Governments   [Ramesh Ponnuru]

NRO claims that "there is no evidence that local law enforcement has a special need for federal resources to help it combat hate crimes." Plumer says , "That's not so," but links to a press release that says nothing that responds to the claim. The closest it comes is in the following passage: "Too many local jurisdictions lack the full resources necessary to prosecute hate crimes. For example, when Matthew Shepard was murdered in Laramie, Wyo., in 1998, the investigation and prosecution of the case cost the community of 28,000 residents about $150,000, forcing the sheriff’s department to lay off five deputies in order to save money."

Presumably a lot of local governments have trouble getting the money to investigate and prosecute crimes—in which case there may be a case for federal aid to local law enforcement generally. But do local governments have a special problem funding work against hate crimes in particular? To coin a phrase, there is no evidence for that.

05/03 04:29 PMShare