The Republican-led South Carolina Senate Judiciary Committee passed hate crime legislation Wednesday, which will advance to the Senate floor for a full vote.
“When a person commits a violent crime as defined in Section 16-1-60 or commits assault by mob in the second degree as defined in Section 16-3-210(C) and the trier of fact determines beyond a reasonable doubt that the offense was committed against a victim who was intentionally selected in whole or in part because of the person’s belief or perception regarding the victim’s race, color, religion, sex, gender, national origin, sexual orientation, or physical or mental disability, whether or not the perception is correct, the person is subject to additional penalties…” says the text of S.615.
The bill passed by a vote of 12-9.
The additional penalties that could be added to a sentence should a hate crime be permitted include a $10,000 fine and up to five more years of imprisonment compared to a crime where hatred is not deemed to be a motivating factor.
S.615 has a companion bill that already passed in the South Carolina House.
The Clementa C. Pinckney Hate Crimes Act “requires an enhanced penalty for specific crimes committed against a victim who was intentionally selected (in whole or in part) by an offender because of the offender’s belief or perception regarding the victim’s race, color, sex, gender, national origin, sexual orientation, or physical or mental disability, regardless of whether the offender’s belief or perception is correct.”
Pinckney was a state senator and pastor who was killed in a racially motivated 2015 mass shooting at his Emanuel AME Church along with eight other church members.
Dylann Roof, the perpetrator of that attack, was sentenced to death in 2017.
South Carolina is one of only two remaining states that does not have hate crime laws.
Wyoming is the other.
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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter/X.
