NEW YORK (JTA) – Days after two men were arrested at Penn Station and charged with planning an attack on a synagogue, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed legislation meant to combat hate and bias crimes.
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The bills would require mandatory hate crime prevention training for individuals convicted of such crimes, as well as establish a statewide campaign around inclusion, tolerance and diversity.
“Before, this was optional,” Hochul said in a press conference Tuesday, referring to the training for offenders. “The operative word now is mandatory. No discretion; this training will occur.”
The campaign will include the first-ever Unity Summit, with community leaders from around the state gathering “to affirm our stand against hate,” Hochul said.
Hochul added that New York can teach the rest of the nation “how you can do things differently.”
Hochul’s announcement comes after a weekend that included the arrest of the two individuals who wanted to “shoot up a synagogue,” and the shooting at an LGBTQ club in Colorado Springs, Colo., that left five dead and 25 wounded.
On Sunday, Hochul said state police would increase surveillance and protection efforts at synagogues and other vulnerable sites. And earlier in the month, the state made $50 million available to strengthen security measures at organizations at risk of hate crimes, as well as $46 million in federal funding for 240 such organizations across the state.
Hochul pointed to an Anti-Defamtion League report that showed that the organization counted 2,717 antisemitic incidents across the country last year, which was a 34% increase from the previous year, and the highest since it began tracking in 1979.
“No young Jewish boy should ever have to look over his shoulder as he’s walking to a yeshiva,” Hochul said.
Wow. Amazing. What on earth is this waste of paper bill going to do to help prevent anything. Liberal and progressive people don’t understand something. You can’t make an animal into a person. A racist hater is just that. They themselves are the problem, they being the quack liberal progressive politicians.
The bills would require mandatory hate crime prevention training for individuals convicted of such crimes, as well as establish a statewide campaign around inclusion, tolerance and diversity.
This may be well meaning but it won’t make an ounce of difference. What do they think they are going to tell individuals convicted of such crimes that will prevent future occurrences or deter future occurrences?
Even worse statewide campaigns around “inclusion, tolerance and diversity” usually end up as code words for discrimination against white males and those who don’t support the LGBT community. The frum world would be a lot better off without it.
Make sure you say “incarcerated person”.
This woman loves signing bills…..even if they won’t do anything meaningful. Such morons.
ezra friedlander lives for this stuff
Will this apply to pocs or muslims or any of the leftists on campuses statewide? Also the Colorado shooter has come out as nonbinary so.
Oh wow! Another law. This is really going to stop things.
When are these libtards going to wake up and realize that all their stupid laws don’t mean anything to anyone? If somebody wants to break a law, they’re going to break the law. There’s that original law that they’re breaking. It doesn’t make a difference to them if they get charged with an extra crime or something like that, they’re breaking the law.
yup -too bad hitler was never given mandatory hate prevention training- history would’ve been different- now, if only we could make kylie, ye, david duke, moster, farakhan, eliza shapiro and tlaib take this course then there will be no more anti jewish hatred in the world- uh huh
Hate crime prevention will be knowing you’ll go to jail for a long time . End of story .