Why does hate-crime legislation keep stalling in South Carolina?
COLUMBIA, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) - South Carolina is one of two states without a state hate-crime law, something that’s gained attention again with this week’s federal hate-crime trial of a man accused of killing a transgender woman in Allendale.
The U.S. Department of Justice alleges that in August 2019, Daqua Lameek Ritter killed Dime Doe over Doe’s gender identity.
There have been bipartisan pushes throughout the years to a hate-crime law in South Carolina, but the legislation keeps stalling out because of some Republican opposition.
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One of the arguments that opponents of enacting a state hate crimes law in South Carolina make is that it’s unnecessary, with those federal statutes already in place.
ers of this legislation say a state statute would allow more resources to go toward investigation and prosecution – for example, from solicitors and the attorney general’s office.
Proponents of a law hope the tide may be turning.
So where does it stand today?
South Carolina and Wyoming are the only two states in the country that do not have a hate-crime law.
The United States Department of Justice started tracking nationwide and statewide hate crimes though the national incident-based reporting system.
2021 was the first year that annual hate crimes data was reported entirely through this system. It caused the number of reported hate crimes to fall from 2020 to 2021.
A majority of the hate crimes reported in both Georgia and South Carolina were against someone’s race or ethnicity.
The difference is Georgia has a hate-crime law and South Carolina doesn’t.
One version of the proposed legislation is known as the Clementa C. Pinckney Hate Crimes Act.
It’s named for a former state senator who was one of the nine victims of the Mother Emanuel AME Church shooting in 2015 – a mass killing motivated by hatred of Black people.
The push was renewed in recent months after a Conway-area cross burning by a white couple accused of harassing their Black neighbors.
Cross-burning has long been seen as a hate symbol in the South, popularized by the Ku Klux Klan.
The Clementa C. Pinckney Hate Crimes Act has stalled in the Senate after ing in the House for the past three years.
Where does that leave South Carolina?
These cases are not going unchecked as we see with Dime Doe’s case.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office encourages South Carolinians to report these crimes directly to the FBI if you suspect a hate-crime has happened.
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