Leaders in Action

Hate-Crime Legislation Reaches Critical Milestone

In February, the efforts of Texas Representative Senfronia Thompson paid off when the hate-crimes bill she authored passed the House of Representatives. The James Byrd Jr. Act, named after the African-American man who was dragged to death behind a pick-up truck in Jasper, Texas, in 1998, enhances Texas’ current hate-crime law by specifying what groups are to be protected and by increasing the penalty for such crimes.

"One hate crime is too many," said Thompson, who has been at the forefront of every state campaign against discrimination in the last three decades. Thompson made this bill a priority because of Byrd’s brutal death, and the increasing number of hate crimes.

The bill has already won approval from the Texas Senate Criminal Justice Committee and now awaits a vote in the full Senate. Virtually the same bill was killed by the Committee in 1999. The Senate version, sponsored by Senator Rodney Ellis (Flemming Fellow ’94 and CPA Board Member), would establish civil remedies for victims, mandatory hate crime training for law enforcement officers, and a hate crimes prosecutor in the Attorney General’s office.

According to Thompson, the bill’s recent positive reception is a testament to the "broad-minded individuals in Texas who believe everyone should have the right to equal protection under the law, and should not be singled out because of their race, gender, sexual orientation, or religion." Seventy-two percent of Texans support stricter penalties for crimes motivated by hate and 76 percent think homosexuals should be protected by a hate-crimes law, according to a recent Texas A&M University poll.

Thompson authored and passed Texas’ first alimony law, the Durable Power of Attorney act, and a law requiring convicted rapists to pay for their victims’ therapy costs. Thompson is Dean of women legislators, the longest-serving female and longest-serving African-American legislator in Texas history.