Policing Hate: The Problematic Expansion of Louisiana's Hate Crime Statute to Include Police Officers

• Author: Savannah Walker
• Position: J.D./D.C.L., 2018. Paul M. Hebert Law Center, Louisiana State University.
• Pages: 1413-1445

Policing Hate: The Problematic Expansion of

Louisiana’s Hate Crime Statute to Include Police

Officers

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction ................................................................................ 1413

I. Hate Crime Laws: A Broad Overview ....................................... 1417

A. Defining “Hate Crime” ........................................................ 1417

B. Why We Legislate Hate ....................................................... 1418

C. Structure of State Hate Crime Statutes ................................ 1419

II. Dissecting the Flaws of the Blue Lives Matter Law .................. 1421

A. The Unnecessary Expressive Purpose ................................. 1422

B. The Practical Shortcomings ................................................. 1424

1. Police Officer Status Does Not Fit into a

Hate Crime Statute ........................................................ 1425

2. The Blue Lives Matter Law Will Not Be

Used Effectively ............................................................ 1428

a. Potential Underuse .................................................. 1428

b. Potential Misuse ..................................................... 1432

III. Recommended Solutions ............................................................ 1435

A. Revising the Law: An Imperfect Solution ........................... 1435

B. Repealing the Law: Nothing Lost, Plenty Gained ............... 1442

Conclusion .................................................................................. 1444

INTRODUCTION

On December 20, 2014, Officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu of

the New York City Police Department were sitting in a parked patrol car

in Brooklyn, New York when a man armed with a handgun approached

from the passenger side and fired multiple rounds into the vehicle,

instantly killing both officers.1 At a press conference that evening, the New

Copyright 2018, by SAVANNAH WALKER.

1. Melanie Eversley, Katharine Lackey & Trevor Hughes, Two NYPD

Officers Killed in Ambush Style Shooting, USA TODAY (Dec. 21, 2014, 9:21 AM),

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/12/20/new-york-city-police-

officers-shot/20698679/ [https://perma.cc/NN3C-QGF7].

1414 LOUISIANA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 78

York City Police Commissioner announced that the shooter deliberately

targeted the police officers “for their uniform and the responsibility they

embraced.”2 The Commissioner pointed to posts on the shooter’s social

media accounts foreshadowing a plan to “put wings on pigs” in retaliation

for the highly protested police killings of Eric Garner and Michael Brown3

as evidence of the killer’s bias against police officers.4

The outrage surrounding the assassination of Officers Ramos and Liu

was widespread.5 Politicians and protesters alike condemned the

violence.6 Many people, however, believed the shooting was not a

senseless, isolated act but evidence of something bigger: law enforcement

was under systematic attack, a phenomenon politicians hastily dubbed a

“war on cops.”7

In the spring of 2016, Louisiana State Representative Lance Harris

drafted House Bill 953,8 a solution to what he perceived as an intentional

crusade to terrorize police officers evidenced by the murders of Ramos

2. Id.

3. Ismaiiyl Brinsley (@dontrunup), INSTAGRAM (Dec. 20, 2014), archived at

http://gawker.com/cop-killers-instagram-im-putting-wings-on-pigs-today-1673793

374 (last visited Sept. 6, 2016) [https://perma.cc/ZP2C-M8HE]; Ferguson Unrest:

from Shooting to Nationwide Protests, BBC NEWS (Aug. 10, 2015), http://www.bbc

.com/news/world-us-canada-30193354 [https://perma.cc/4FE5-YA3G]; Al Baker,

Beyond the Chokehold: The Path to Eric Garner’s Death, N.Y. TIMES (June 13, 2015),

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/14/nyregion/eric-garner-police-chokehold-staten-

island.html [https://perma.cc/2DXZ-9YR8].

4. Eversley et al., supr a note 1.

5. Id.

6. Id.

7. See, e.g., Steve Benen, Ted Cr uz Shows How Not to Respond to Police

Killings, MSNBC (Sept. 2, 201 5, 8:00 AM), http://www. msnbc.com/rac hel-

maddow-show/ted-cruz-shows-how-not-respond-police-killings (quoting Senator

Ted Cruz , w ho r emarke d t hat cops are “feel ing the assau lt” nation wide)

[https://perma.cc/PW2T-JKW7]; Radley Balko, Scott Walker Couldn’t Be More

Wrong About the Threa t to P olice Officers , WASH. PO ST (Sept. 3, 2015) ,

https://www.washi ngtonpost.com/news/the- watch/wp/201 5/09/03/scott-walker-

couldnt-be-more-wrong-about-the-threat-to-police-officers/?tid=a_inl&utm_term=.5

84f49b74c56 (criticizing Wisconsin governor Scott Walker’s comments on what he

perceives as “a disturbing trend of police officers being murdered on the job”)

[https://perma.cc/77HD-YFQN].

8. H.B. 953, Reg. Sess. (La. 2016).

2018] COMMENT 1415

and Liu9 and a similar murder of a deputy in Cypress, Texas.10 The bill was

termed the “Blue Lives Matter” bill, its name being a response to Black

Lives Matter, a civil rights group11 that has been accused of inciting anti-

police violence through its protests of police activity.12 The bill sought to

modify Louisiana’s hate crime statute, which provides increased penalties

for offenders who select their victims based on the individual victim’s race,

age, gender, religion, color, creed, disability, sexual orientation, national

origin, ancestry, or organizational affiliation.13 The modification added

“actual or perceived employment as a law enforcement officer, firefighter,

or emergency medical services personnel” to the list of protected

characteristics.14

The bill passed the House unanimously and passed the Senate by a

margin of 33-3.15 Governor John Bel Edwards signed it into law on May

26, 2016, officially making Louisiana the first state to offer additional

protection to law enforcement officers through hate crime legislation.16

9. Elizabeth Crisp, ‘Blue Lives Matter’: Louisiana Legislature Considers

Hate Crime Pr otections for P olice, Firefighters, ADVOCATE (Apr. 26, 2016, 3:26

PM), http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/politics/Legislature/article

_f82c5a03-f31a-5574-bc5b-f1311aa1348f.html (explaining that Representative

Harris cited the murders of Ramos and Liu in his proposal) [https://perma.cc

/MK86-DPLR].

10. See Elizabeth Chuck & James Novogrod, Texas Deputy Darren Goforth,

Slain at Cypress Gas Station, Remembered at Funer al, NBC NEWS (Sept. 4, 2015,

3:19 PM), http://www.nbcnews.com/news/crime-courts/thousands-attend-funeral-

texas-deputy-darren-goforth-n421831 [https://perma.cc/4JKG-TC9B].

11. “Black Lives Matter” began as a protest cry after the 2012 fatal shooting

of unarmed African-American teenager Trayvon Martin but now r efers to a

national political group that includes 30 official chapters. See Alex Altman,

Person of the Year, the Short List: No. 4, Black Lives Matter, TIME (Dec. 2015),

http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2015-runner-up-black-lives-matter/

[https://perma.cc/WBX9-USV6]. T he group protests various forms of perceived

racial oppression and injustice, but its largest and most visible protests have been

those aimed at police brutality following the high-profile deaths of several

African-American men at the hands of law enforcement. See id.

12. Richard Perez-Pena, Louisiana Enacts Hate Crime Laws to Protect a New

Group: P olice, N.Y. TIMES (May 26, 2016), http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/27

/us/louisiana-enacts-hate-crimes-law-to-prote ct-a-new-group-po lice.html?_r=0

[https://perma.cc/3T44-MYL6].

13. LA. REV. STAT. § 14:107.2 (2018).

14. Act No. 953, 2016 La. Acts 2038.

15. Perez-Pena, supra note 12.

16. Id.