HB 717 -- CRIMINAL INTIMIDATION

CO-SPONSORS:  Harlan, Campbell, Van Zandt, Davis (63), Bray,
McLuckie, Riback Wilson

COMMITTEE ACTION:  Voted "do pass" by the Committee on Criminal
Law by a vote of 9 to 7 with 2 present.

This bill makes several changes to the crime of ethnic
intimidation, including changing the name of the crime from
ethnic intimidation to criminal intimidation.

The bill also adds sex, sexual orientation, and disability to
the list of motives for committing certain crimes that make a
person guilty of criminal intimidation.  Currently, motives
based on race, religion, and national origin make a person
guilty.

The bill clarifies that a person is guilty of criminal
intimidation even if the person has assumed that the victim is a
member of a race or religious group that the victim is not a
member of, or the person has assumed that the victim has a
national origin, sex, sexual orientation, or disability that the
victim does not have.

FISCAL NOTE:  No impact on state funds.

PROPONENTS:  Supporters say that the bill is necessary to make a
statement to society regarding the state's intolerance of crimes
which are motivated by an individual's inclusion in particular
classes that have historically been subject to intimidation.
Supporters also say that individuals committing hate crimes
should receive enhanced penalties because hate crimes generate
community tension and have a disproportionate effect on the
class attacked, in comparison to crimes committed without regard
to status.

Testifying for the bill were Representative Harlan; Seamus
Dowling; Paraquad, Inc.; Anti-Defamation League; Privacy Rights
Education Project; Missouri Commission on Human Rights;
Associated Students of the University of Missouri; 2004 St.
Louis; and American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri.

OPPONENTS:  There was no opposition voiced to the committee.

Sarah Madden, Legislative Analyst

HB 717 -- Criminal Intimidation

Co-Sponsors:  Harlan, Campbell, Van Zandt, Davis (63), Bray,
McLuckie, Riback Wilson

This bill makes several changes to the crime of ethnic
intimidation, including changing the name of the crime from
ethnic intimidation to criminal intimidation.

The bill also adds sex, sexual orientation, and disability to
the list of motives for committing certain crimes that make a
person guilty of criminal intimidation.  Currently, motives
based on race, religion, and national origin make a person
guilty.

The bill clarifies that a person is guilty of criminal
intimidation even if the person has assumed that the victim is a
member of a race or religious group that the victim is not a
member of, or the person has assumed that the victim has a
national origin, sex, sexual orientation, or disability that the
victim does not have.