Dallas Criminal Attorney
Hate Crimes
While some argue that all crimes are performed out of hate, Texas has an unfortunate history of exceptionally violent crimes committed against minorities. To help fight against these prejudiced acts, mostly performed with the intent to cause fear in other minority persons, our state passed a hate crimes prevention law in 2001. This law further illegalizes any criminal acts performed against people out of bias or prejudice. Categories protected by these acts include a person's ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, disability, background, age or political affiliations. The punishment for hate offenses can be very severe and need to be defended by an expert Dallas criminal attorney.
The goal of hate crime legislation is to help protect minorities from fear of violence. While many people believe this provides certain groups more protection than others, the law is not specific as to who needs to be targeted in order for an act to be a hate crime. Our criminal defense in Dallas has seen many supposed hate crime victims who are white, straight males. If a Christian was attacked for his or her beliefs by a group of atheists, he or she would be protected by the law just as much as an atheist would be if the situation were reversed.
When you are charged with a hate crime, it takes a skilled Dallas criminal lawyer to help defend the motivations for your actions. If you are found guilty of a hate crime, you will be subject to the next level of punishment for the specific category of crime you were charged with. For example, if you are accused of manslaughter, normally a second degree felony punishable by 2 to 20 years in prison, you would instead be charged with a first degree felony punishable by 5 years to life imprisonment. It takes a top Dallas criminal attorney to help fight hate crime accusations that can so drastically affect your sentencing.
If you have been accused of a hate crime, don’t take your chances with just any Dallas criminal lawyer. Contact a skilled attorney from Crain & Lewis today to discuss your case.