Non-Violent Hate Crimes That Crumble at Sentencing
Some civil rights were outraged when a Rutgers student received a 30-day jail term for secretly recording the sexual encounter of a dorm-mate who later committed suicide. But 13 years ago, a high-profile hate crime ended with a judge giving the guilty a homework assignment.
Non-Violent Hate Crimes That Crumble at Sentencing
Jan Hefler
Some civil rights activists were outraged when a Rutgers student recently received a 30-day jail term for secretly recording the sexual encounter of a gay dorm-mate who a few days later committed suicide.
But 13 years ago, a high-profile hate crime in Burlington County ended with a judge giving the guilty a homework assignment. After 3 young men admitted they had carved a swastika in a cornfield and harrassed African Americans for years, they were placed on probation and ordered to write essays on Roots, Native Son and Schindler's List.
The two cases are somewhat similar. In each one, the defendants could have gotten 10 years in jail since bias crimes can double the penalty. Quickly, some activists complained that the judges had failed to send a strong message to those who might commit hate crimes.
But others pointed out the wisdom of using education and community service to fight bigotry, especially when the crimes are non-violent and are committed by misguided youth who have no criminal records.
Last week Dharun Ravi began serving his sentence in Middlesex County for invading the privacy of his dorm-mate. Later, he will have to perform community service. If he remains out of trouble, his record could be erased.
Superior Court Judge Glenn Berman said that Ravi was guilty of "colossal insensitivity," but he was not likely to commit another crime.
His parents had insisted Ravi was an immature 18-year-old college student at the time and had learned his lesson - especially under an international media glare.
In the Burlco case, 3 men in their early 20s were also given a break. They admitted they terrorized a neighborhood by throwing dead animals at homes, spray-painting KKK on streets, and crank-calling an elderly African American woman and subjecting her to her racial epithets. But they had no criminal records and expressed remorse.
Steven Altman, Ravi's lawyer, also defended one of the Burlco men - Jason Gancarz. Altman said he took Gancarz to the Holocaust Museum in D.C. and noticed that Gancarz was moved. Altman said Gancarz just needed a chance to learn.
Judge Marvin Schlosser, now retired, agreed to place the men on probation and order community service. Then, he assigned 1,000-word essays to help them understand "the issue of hatred and its effects on people who are oppressed."
How about the abject failures of the city and feds to treat Killy "flash mob" participants as hate crime perps? Are we to assume no premeditation in selecting whites only as targets?— lefty- This is the media we are talking about here . They do not report the race of black suspects only the white ones , they do not do their jobs and report the numerous racist black on white crimes going on all over the country. The best this woman could come up with for a white on black hate crime was some obscure case from 13 years ago. Lets not even get into the black on white rape issue.......... — MrCrunch
- This is the media we are talking about here . They do not report the race of black suspects only the white ones , they do not do their jobs and report the numerous racist black on white crimes going on all over the country. The best this woman could come up with for a white on black hate crime was some obscure case from 13 years ago. Lets not even get into the black on white rape issue.......... — MrCrunch
- This is the media we are talking about here . They do not report the race of black suspects only the white ones , they do not do their jobs and report the numerous racist black on white crimes going on all over the country. The best this woman could come up with for a white on black hate crime was some obscure case from 13 years ago. Lets not even get into the black on white rape issue.......... — MrCrunch
- This is the media we are talking about here . They do not report the race of black suspects only the white ones , they do not do their jobs and report the numerous racist black on white crimes going on all over the country. The best this woman could come up with for a white on black hate crime was some obscure case from 13 years ago. Lets not even get into the black on white rape issue.......... — MrCrunch
- This is the media we are talking about here . They do not report the race of black suspects only the white ones , they do not do their jobs and report the numerous racist black on white crimes going on all over the country. The best this woman could come up with for a white on black hate crime was some obscure case from 13 years ago. Lets not even get into the black on white rape issue.......... — MrCrunch
- This is the media we are talking about here . They do not report the race of black suspects only the white ones , they do not do their jobs and report the numerous racist black on white crimes going on all over the country. The best this woman could come up with for a white on black hate crime was some obscure case from 13 years ago. Lets not even get into the black on white rape issue.......... — MrCrunch
- This is the media we are talking about here . They do not report the race of black suspects only the white ones , they do not do their jobs and report the numerous racist black on white crimes going on all over the country. The best this woman could come up with for a white on black hate crime was some obscure case from 13 years ago. Lets not even get into the black on white rape issue.......... — MrCrunch
- This is the media we are talking about here . They do not report the race of black suspects only the white ones , they do not do their jobs and report the numerous racist black on white crimes going on all over the country. The best this woman could come up with for a white on black hate crime was some obscure case from 13 years ago. Lets not even get into the black on white rape issue.......... — MrCrunch
