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· Article rank

· 24 Jan 2020

· Hackensack Chronicle

· Deena Yellin

· NorthJersey.com USA TODAY NETWORK – NEW JERSEY

Hundreds gathered at the Gottesman RTW Academy in Randolph for the Morris County Community Rally Against Hate recently.

In July, a carload of people drove past a Teaneck synagogue and allegedly sprayed congregants with a water pistol while spewing anti-Semitic slurs.

On Christmas Day, a man entered a popular kosher bagel store in town and allegedly hurled expletives and anti-Jewish insults. The confrontation became physical and at least patron was left with minor scratches.

Much to the chagrin of many residents, police declared neither incident a bias crime.

Law enforcement agencies admit the categorization can be a thorny issue, especially with local communities on a hair-trigger after a run of deadly anti-Semitic violence.

Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said the incidents did not rise to the legal standard required to charge suspects with bias crimes, since the individuals didn’t start out “for the specific purpose of committing crimes against a certain individual, community, race or religious group.”

“They were random events” that escalated, Musella said at a Jan. 2 safety forum in Teaneck.

His explanation was met with anger by those who felt the suspects had targeted Jews.

“When a number of cases are not treated as hate crimes when clearly the people think they were, then you have a problem,” said township resident Mayer Fertig. When a perpetrator “references the victim’s Judaism, it’s really hard to draw any other conclusion and it’s hard to understand how investigators drew any other conclusion.”

All the grumbling led Teaneck Deputy Mayor Elie Katz to suggest, “maybe the laws — regarding what constitutes a bias crime — need to be revised.”

State legislators are moving in that direction. Legislation scheduled for a vote in Trenton on Monday would expand the definition of terrorism to include influencing or inciting acts against a person or group based on race, religion, sexual orientation, gender or creed.

Whatever happens with the bill (A-3087), the debates in Teaneck and elsewhere highlight the sometimes confusing set of rules defining a hate crime in New Jersey. It’s a distinction that can affect the penalties imposed and the degree to which targeted groups feel law enforcement has their back.

Not all bias incidents are considered bias crimes, said Elizabeth Rebein, a spokesperson for the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office.

According to state law, a bias incident is any offense, including hate speech, which occurs against a person or property on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, disability, sexual identity or expression, national origin and ethnicity, all “protected classes.”

But hurtful words alone aren’t enough to turn a bias incident into a crime. There must be an actual criminal violation, and the actor’s purpose must have been to intimidate a person or group based upon religion, race or another protected status.

Being charged with a bias crime in New Jersey can result in expanded penalties, including more severe fines, prison time and a criminal record, Rebein said.

Anti-Semitic attacks and hate crimes in general are on the rise. Last month, a man wielding a machete stormed into a rabbi’s home in Monsey in Rockland County, New York, and allegedly attacked revelers at a Hanukkah party. Weeks earlier, two shooters targeted a kosher supermarket in Jersey City, killing a police officer and three bystanders.

A Greenwood Lake, New York, man was arrested for the Monsey attack and charged with ederal(sic) hate crimes; his relatives cited a history of mental illness.

The reaction in the Jersey City case, meanwhile, offered fodder for those who say authorities may be too slow to acknowledge a bias crime. Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop almost immediately called the shootings an attack on Jews, while state and federal authorities initially said they wanted to wait for further investigation. Within days, they were echoing the mayor’s statements.

Prosecutors who bring bias charges must prove that a defendant harbored such hatred, and that it was the motivation behind the criminal act, said David LaBahn, president of the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, a national advocacy group based in Washington. But proving what a suspect was thinking at the time of a crime can be challenging, LaBahn added.

Anti-Semitic incidents across the nation doubled over the past five years up to 2018, according to the Anti-Defamation League. For New Jersey, that number barely changed, but remained among the highest in the nation. Numbers for 2019, to be released in the spring, are expected to show a dramatic rise, the group said.

In April, New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal issued updated standards for bias investigations, expanding the definition of victims and requiring more prompt reporting and record-keeping.

In Jersey City, law enforcement was cautious in declaring a hate crime because “they needed to be sure with hard evidence that they would be able to prosecute it as such,” said Alexander Rosemberg, the ADL's director of community affairs for New York and New Jersey. “The prosecutor's standards may be different than that of an onlooker.”

There' s been an inadequate response, even in states like New Jersey or New York, that are armed with strong crime laws and responsive governors, said Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University.

“The statutes do not protect the homeless or undocumented people who are particularly vulnerable because of their often tenuous relationship with law enforcement,” said Levin, adding that many other states have laws that fail to cover sexual orientation and gender as well.

Many state and local police departments lack proper policies, training, data collection or leadership to tackle rising hate, he said.

After an investigation into the squirt gun attack, township police were “unable to confirm that anti-Semitic statements were made,” Police Chief Glen O'Reilly said in an interview. The perpetrators, who went around town that night spraying many other groups of people, were charged with harassment but not a bias crime.

O'Reilly said no charges were filed against the bagel store suspect because the man did not intend to harass or intimidate anyone. “An investigation determined that he went to Sammy's to get food and a verbal argument ensued,” O'Reilly said. The suspect referenced the men's kippot, or religious headgear, in a pejorative manner, a scuffle ensured(sic) and a victim was left with an abrasion on his face, the chief said.

“It was listed as a bias incident, which gets reported to the State Police, but did not rise to the level of a bias crime,” said O'Reilly.

“The frustration should go toward our legislators to strengthen the laws so that our law enforcement has better tools,” he said.