HATE CRIMES
 

Hate Crimes attack a core principle on which our society rests: the commitment to equal opportunity and equal treatment.  Hate Crime cases are prosecuted by the DA’s Office’s Civil Rights Bureau. 

The Hate Crimes Act of 2000 was signed into law on July 10, 2000 and took effect on October 8, 2000.  It provided increased prison sentences for criminals who choose their victims based on some belief about the victim’s ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender, disability or other personal identifiers specified in the law.  In charges such as murder, where the maximum sentence is life in prison, the designation of a hate crime would increase the minimum sentence. 

In an ongoing case in Brooklyn Supreme Court, two defendants are charged with Murder in the Second Degree as a Hate Crime and Robbery in the First Degree as a Hate Crime, for their involvement in the robbery and death of a 29-year-old gay man, in Sheepshead Bay.  The incident occurred in October 2006, and the defendants are charged with hate crimes because they allegedly chose the victim, Michael Sandy, because of a belief that a gay man would be easier to exploit and less likely to call the police than a heterosexual.

Another case, which attracted media attention, involved four black teenagers riding their bikes in Gerritsen Beach.  They were set upon by a gang of white teenagers who shouted racial slurs, stole the teens’ bikes and assaulted them. 

My Office has been considered a pioneer of Hate Crimes prosecution since his command, in the 1980’s, of the famous Howard Beach hit-and-run case, in which a black man was run down by a passing car after being chased into the street by an angry white mob. 

Just this past week, vandals painted swastikas and other anti-Semitic messages on several houses and cars as well as two synagogues in Brooklyn Heights.  When the individual or individuals are apprehended I will do whatever is necessary to prosecute them and should there be a conviction I will ask for the maximum penalty available. These vicious acts of hatred directed toward Jewish people in our community are all the more despicable coming during some of the most sacred Holy days in the Jewish calendar.  What these hatemongers fail to comprehend is that their actions both outrage and unite people of good will in this County.

 

 CHARLES GURIA 

Assistant District Attorney Charles M. Guria heads up the Civil Rights and Police Integrity Unit, which investigates and prosecutes Hate Crimes.  He has worked in the DA’s Office for over 16 years.  Throughout his tenure at the DA’s Office, Mr. Guria has spent most of his time, investigating and prosecuting cases involving police corruption and corrupt public officials.

After graduating from New York Law School, Mr. Guria started his career at the Legal Aid Society where he represented indigent clients in criminal cases.  He then moved to the Appellate Division’s Departmental Disciplinary Committee where he investigated attorneys charged in ethical violations. 

He joined the Brooklyn DA’s Office in April, 1990, but left after two years, to serve on Mayor David Dinkins’ Commission to Combat Police Corruption, also called the Mullen Commission.  There he worked on the infamous “Dirty Thirty” corruption probe and helped write the commission’s report recommending changes to the NYPD’s anti-corruption procedures.

Mr. Guria returned to the  DA’s Office in 1994, where he was promoted to Executive Assistant District Attorney.  As Chief of Civil Rights and Police Integrity, he prosecutes cases of police misconduct, bias crimes and immigration fraud. 

He trains future attorneys as Brooklyn Law School’s Moot Court Coach, and either is or has been a member of numerous community and professional associations, including two terms as the first President of the Sterling Johnson, Jr. New York Chapter of the National Black Prosecutor’s Association.

The news articles listed below, courtesy of the National District Attorney’s Association (ndaa.org), may be of interest to you or members of your community. 

ANTI-GANG LEGISLATION APPROVED BY SENATE

Sweeping national anti-gang legislation breezed unanimously through the U.S. Senate on Friday in a move that could significantly aid Los Angeles' efforts to quell rising violence.

The Gang Abatement Act, which underwent nearly a decade of setbacks and negotiations before it passed, would pour a total of $1 billion into new gang intervention and enforcement programs.

For the first time, it also would define criminal street gangs under federal law and make recruitment a felony.

"For more than a decade, I have worked to address the problem of gang violence that cripples so many neighborhoods in our nation," said California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the bill's author and prime sponsor.

"With Senate passage of this balanced and comprehensive bill, we move one step closer to providing a federal hand of assistance to those on the front lines."

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena, is carrying similar legislation in the U.S. House, but its fate there remains uncertain.

If the House approves a significantly different version, the House and Senate will have to hammer out differences before getting a bill to the president's desk.

Still, the bill's overwhelming approval in the Senate was an enormous victory for supporters.

http://www.dailynews.com/portlet/article/html/fragments/print_article.jsp?articleId=6966057&siteId=200

SEXUAL ASSAULT: DARK SECRETS

Young, female and now having nightmares about a man she thought she knew — it's the most common profile of a sexual assault victim in Massachusetts and throughout the country.

While you might not hear much about them — media outlets don't cover as many sexual crimes as actually occur, in part because of issues with victim's privacy — survivors are out there.

Lots of them. More than you might want to know.

High-profile cases make national news and frightening local instances of stranger rape put communities on alert. But perpetrators are more often hiding in plain sight. They're often acquaintances, partners and family members.

"When people think of sex crimes, they think of strangers. They think of streets. They don't understand that the majority of sex crimes happen behind closed doors, committed by parents and siblings and partners," said Jack Levin, professor of sociology and criminology at Northeastern University, "not by the stranger our mothers warned us about."