The Democrats in the Michigan State Legislature have drafted the Michigan Hate Crime Act. The act, according to the Detroit News, “would reclassify certain offenses as hate crimes depending on the individuals targeted and to heighten the criminal act of defacing synagogues, churches, cemeteries or schools.
“The Michigan Hate Crime Act would classify as a hate crime any attempt to intimidate, harass, use force against or injure another person or deface their property if the action is meant to target an individual based on race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, age or physical or mental disability.”
The current iteration would replace a 1988 law that protected race and ethnicity, but not sex and gender, sexual orientation, or disability.
The Democrats also proposed the Institutional Desecration Act, which will charge a person if they “destroys, defaces, damages or threatens facilities such as a place of worship, cultural or community center, cemetery, school, business or digital online assets if the attack was based on an associated group’s race, religion, color, sexual orientation, gender identity or physical or mental disability,” the Detroit News reported.
If a person violates the proposed hate crime act, has not done so before and the crime results in no injury, they can face up to two years in prison and/or a $2,000 fine. If the person’s act causes injury or “severe mental anguish, the perpetrator could face up to five years in prison and/or a $10,000 fine.
“Repeat violations, violations against a minor or instances where a person is in possession of a firearm at the time carry the same potential penalty,” the Detroit News said.