In a push to punish those responsible for hate crimes, including the latest epidemic of anti-Semitic crimes plaguing our community, Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz, a member of the Assembly’s Codes Committee, has called on the City’s District Attorneys to immediately seek the maximum penalty for defendants accused of hate crimes and asked Judges to impose the maximum sentence allowed upon conviction.
“We are seeing an increase in the frequency of anti-Semitic incidents. Those who commit these abominable crimes must realize that there is a real penalty to pay for their actions,” Cymbrowitz stated. “Most of these offenses are property-based, but the recent physical assault upon a Jewish man walking home from Sabbath services, by teens who hit him in the face and shouted derogatory epithets about his obviously religious appearance, highlights the critical need for harsher penalties.”
“Those who choose to act on the hatred in their hearts must know that they can expect to receive the maximum penalty that our Penal Code allows. We need to show the perpetrators of these offensive acts that there is no place for their hatred in our civilized society,” said Cymbrowitz, whose parents are both Holocaust survivors. “We as legislators intended that the penalty for the commission of a hate crime be harsher than other crimes, the judiciary must now use its power to carry out our legislative intent.”
Cymbrowitz, who is working with law enforcement officials in an effort to swiftly bring those who commit these and other hate crimes to justice, recently expressed his concern over the NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services’ annual “Hate Crimes in New York State” report, showing a 27 percent increase of hate crimes throughout New York City (350), while hate crimes in New York State dropped by 14 percent. The 2011 report also revealed that Jews were the most frequent targets of hate crimes and that, nearly 70 years after the end of the Holocaust, swastikas are still being placed on property throughout New York State.
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