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Hate crimes spike 63%131 victims in state last year and 168 offenders, according to reportPeter Marcus, DDN Staff WriterWednesday, June 17, 2009 | |
In the same year a transgender Greeley woman was murdered in connection with a bias-motivated crime, Colorado experienced a 63-percent increase in serial hate crime incidents.
The story of Angie Zapata made national headlines when Allen Ray Andrade was convicted in April of first-degree murder and a hate crime in the brutal slaying of Zapata. For his defense, Andrade argued that Zapata drove him to murder by not revealing that she was once a man. The jury rejected the defense, and he was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.
But Kelly Costello, director of advocacy for the Colorado Anti-Violence Program, an advocacy group for gay people that experience hate as a result of their lifestyle, said Colorado should disallow defense arguments that “revolve around blaming the victim for the violence they experience.”
“This is not only disrespectful, but it is unethical,” said Costello of the defense.
A report issued yesterday by the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs states that in Colorado last year there were 131 victims of hate crimes. There were 168 offenders, states the annual report.
The Colorado Anti-Violence program is concerned that there was a 24-percent spike in offenders, meaning there were multiple offenders attacking fewer people. The number of victims in Colorado rose 8 percent compared to the nationwide increase of 2 percent, states the report.
Costello says one of the biggest challenges facing his group is the fact that Colorado allows as defense arguments that blame the victim.
“Throughout the murder trial (of Andrade) … we witnessed a problematic and offensive defense that blamed Angie for her own murder,” Costello said. “We are concerned about the fact that such a transphobic defense is allowable in the courts today.”
The group would also like the public to be aware that such hate crimes are not isolated incidents, but instead part of a disturbing overall picture of bias-motivated violence.
“While we know that bias-violence often follows a pattern of escalation from irritating to possibly life threatening situations, it is important to note that with many of the reports we received about serial incidents, it was the first time the caller had reported their experience with this ongoing violence,” said Costello.
For more information on the report, visit NCAVP.org, or COAVP.org
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