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ABSTRACT: The majority of the research being conducted on hate crime laws deals with civil liberties issues; however, there has been little research conducted on the creation of these laws. In 1986, Ohio joined a growing number of states in enacting hate crime legislation. This article involves a historical analysis of the creation of Ohio's ethnic intimidation law. Through the use of interviews and archival data, it was found that interest group activity, media campaigns, and a specific triggering event were all influential in the process of enacting this legislation in Ohio. While these findings cannot be generalized to the creation of laws in general, or hate crime laws in other states, this study does fill a gap in the knowledge about the process of enacting laws.
INTRODUCTION
The term "hate crime" is a recent development in our society and is generally used to describe offenses motivated by prejudices based on characteristics such as the victim's race, religion, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. In 1986, several different types of hate crime legislation were introduced in the Ohio State Legislature under Senate Bill 316. This study will concentrate on one specific statute created by this bill, the ethnic intimidation law, which became effective on March 19, 1987, and reads as follows:
(A) No person shall [commit the crime of aggravated menacing, menacing, criminal damaging or endangering, criminal mischief or telephone harassment] by reason of the race, color, religion, or national origin of another person or groups of persons.
(B) Whoever violates this section is guilty of ethnic intimidation. Ethnic intimidation is an offense of the next higher degree than the offense the commission of which is a necessary element of ethnic intimidation (Ohio Rev. Code Ann. 2927.12)
For example, an individual who commits telephone harassment, a firstdegree misdemeanor in Ohio, could face a maximum sentence of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine. If the victim was chosen because of his or her race, for example, an offender who was found to have violated the statute of ethnic intimidation could face a sentence ranging from 18 months to five years and a fine of up to $2,500. This version of hate crime laws is known as a penalty enhancement and is based on a model...