Federal Hate-Crimes Bill Promotes Double Jeopardy

Posted by Hans Bader

Yesterday, I wrote about the fact that supporters of the federal hate crimes bill want to allow people who have been found innocent of a hate crime in state court to be reprosecuted in federal court.

Apparently, this was true of the most prominent supporter of the bill when it was first introduced, the Clinton Administration. Syndicated columnist Jacob Sullum pointed out in 1998 that Janet Reno, Clinton’s Attorney General, backed the bill as a way of providing a federal “forum” for prosecution if prosecutors fail to obtain a conviction “in the state court.”

As Sullum notes, the hate crimes bill exploits a loophole in constitutional protections against double jeopardy, known as the “dual sovereignty” doctrine. The Supreme Court created this loophole in its 5-to-4 Bartkus decision.

Related posts
  • No related posts.
Email This Post Email This Post  Print This Post Print This Post

05/23/2007 @ 3:23 pm | Constitutional & Legal | Comments

 
close Reblog this comment
Powered by Disqus · Learn more
blog comments powered by Disqus