A spate of assaults against Jewish people in New York and New Jersey has caused one State Senator to renew his call for stiffer charges and punishment. NYS Senator Joe Griffo of Rome calls recent incidents appalling and unacceptable. He’s proposing changes that might help law enforcement.
“Even though there are pre-existing anti-discrimination laws that can apply, this bill would actually elevate this type of crime to a hate crime under the human rights law in the state of New York, which then gives the opportunity for law enforcement to charge and prosecutors to prosecute accordingly.”
A man stabbed five people at a Hanukkah party in a New York suburb earlier in December. A day before Christmas, a man punched and kicked an elderly Jewish man, yelling anti-Semitic slurs, according to police. And last week, an orthodox Jewish woman was assaulted, with witnesses saying the assailant shouted slurs and threats. Griffo’s bill would specifically amend human rights law.
“…and it does use the anti-Semitic language so it can protect those of the Jewish faith that are purposely identified, bullied or harassed or, in this case … violence that takes place. This now allows law enforcement and prosecutors to specifically charge with a higher level for this specific type of crime.”
The bill is drawing support from Oneida County District Attorney Scott McNamara.
“The current laws are lacking when it comes to holding those who encourage anti-Semitic violence. If enacted into law, this bill would allow prosecutors to better hold accountable those who incite violence against people of the Jewish faith,” McNamara said in a release.
Griffo proposed the bill back in the spring, but believes it will now gain more attention.
“Unfortunately, because of the new focus and the preponderance of events, I think it’s caught a lot of people’s attention now, which really should have been the case before. But now that it has, there’ll be a number o other possible suggestions or proposals and that will be an opportunity to evaluate those and determine what is the best course of action to try and prevent this from continuing to occur.”
Griffo’s bill is in a State Senate committee before possibly coming to the floor for a vote, though he says he’s happy to compromise with other proposals. He expects Governor Cuomo to propose a hate-crime initiative as well, as part of his State of the State Address later this month.
