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Assault Motivated by Bias (Age)Chapter 189, Article 4, Section 14H.F. 2928, Hilstrom--DFLS.F. 2680, Latz—DFLEffective: August 1, 2016 and applies to crimes committed on or after that dateBackgroundThis legislation was brought forward after an incident last fall where a Somali woman was allegedly attached for not speaking English at a restaurant. The alleged attacker was charged with third-degree assault, but not a “hate crime” or what is legally known as a “bias crime.” That is because under Minnesota law, a bias crime could only influence punishment in low-level assaults, not felonies. So, a bias-crime charge would have actually been a lower-level charge. A similar situation occurred after charging several suspects for opening fire in a crowd of demonstrators in Minneapolis. The change to the law allows for penalties to be enhanced in felony assaults if motivated by bias. Bill SummaryThe legislation enhances the penalties for anyone convicted of felony-level assaults (first, second or third degree assault, as defined by Minn. State. Sections 609.221. 609.222 or 609.223), if the crime was motivated by the person’s actual or perceived race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, disability, age or national origin. Under this section, the maximum penalty would be 25 percent longer than the maximum penalty otherwise applicable. ImplicationsBecause age and disability are included as factors, it is possible persons convicted of assaulting seniors or other vulnerable adults could face enhanced penalties. Staff Contact Kari Thurlow kthurlow@ ................
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