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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 27, 2007 CONTACT: Bernadette Franks-Ongoy, Executive Director, Montana Advocacy Program 406-449-2344 Montana Advocacy Program Hails the Senate’s Passage of Hate Crimes Protection for People with Disabilities The Montana Advocacy Program, which advocates for people with disabilities, applauds the U.S. Senate’s passage today of a measure to expand the federal hate crime law to cover violence against people with disabilities. This is the first major expansion of the hate crime law that was passed in 1968 and expands its scope to include violence motivated by a person’s disability, gender, sexual orientation or gender identity. Both of Montana’s Senators voted in favor of the bill. “Through much of our country’s history, people with disabilities have been treated as second class citizens and hidden and excluded from society in institutions or at home,” said MAP Executive Director, Bernadette Franks-Ongoy. “Bias against people with disabilities has often resulted in discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations. However, one of the most tragic manifestations of this discrimination has been violence against people with disabilities.” In 1994, Congress enacted a sentence-enhancement law that allows a longer sentence for those who commit federal crimes against victims because of his or her “actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, gender, disability, or sexual orientation. . .” Also in 1994, Congress extended the Hate Crime Statistics Act of 1990, a law requiring the FBI to collect hate crime statistics form state and local law enforcement authorities, to include disability-based hate crimes. Despite these laws, however, law enforcement authorities have lacked the resources to investigate and prosecute hate crimes against people with disabilities, which often pose special challenges. Moreover, these crimes have remained vastly under-reported. With passage of this measure today, the Senate is sending the message that hate crimes committed because of disability bias are as intolerable as those motivated by bias based upon race, ethnicity, national origin, or religion. In addition, the crucial resources provided to local law enforcement in this legislation give meaning and substance to this important message. “In Montana, this law is especially important, as Montana law does not include disability as a bias crime,” observes Franks-Ongoy. ###

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