Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and a host of elected officials announced on Monday new legislation that would expand Hate Crime charges as biased attacks continue to rise in the Big Apple.
Bragg joined Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal, Assembly member Grace Lee, and City Councilmember Keith Powers as they unveiled the new law inside the District Attorney’s office located at 80 Centre St. The legislation will push for current loopholes in the law to be done away with that can see bigots committing gang assaults and even murder motivated by acts of hatred yet not charged as such.
“If a group of people beat someone up because of their race, that gang assault as the law calls it, cannot be charged as a hate crime. That needs to change,” Bragg said. “Hate crime does not discriminate. It has targeted all of our communities.”
