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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 1, 1992)
local new s Info shoring Bias-crime education exchange held at the King facility by Jim Hunger T he Portland Bureau of Police, in con junction with the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office, sponsored a bias-crime educational forum for members of the community at the King Neighborhood Facility on July 29. The meeting was called in response to questions and concerns voiced in the community. In detailing the process involved in the inves tigation of a bias crime. District Attorney Michael Schrunk explained that officers on the scene do a “quick and dirty analysis” and file initial charges; staff at the bureau assist in follow-up investiga tion. By the following morning a “holding charge” may be filed, sufficient to hold a suspect for prosecution. If a felony charge is involved, the investigation continues, as Deputy District Attor ney Greg Homer elaborated, in order to present the case to a grand jury within five working days. In the interim period, leads are. folio wed, and additional charges 'may be filed or weak charges dropped. A trial must take place within 60 days, or the charges will be dropped. Officer Kevin Modica elucidated the training and experience of the cop on the scene, pointing out that officers always respond first to the basic criminal charge, which is easier to substantiate, and then to the hate-crime aspect, which is more difficult to prove and liable to emotional filtering. Merely using a bigoted term in the heat of the moment does not constitute a bias crime-the antagonist must initiate the illegal act because of his or her bigotry. In addition to race, creed and sex, Oregon law protects gays and lesbians, as well as the elderly and handicapped, and mem bers of labor or political groups, if they are at tacked because of their membership in those organizations. Modica pointed out that a person T Ibu Have A Right lb More Than Just A House. At this point, Hyde saw the necessity of taking the message about AIDS to the segment of the population that has not yet acknowledged the crisis. To this end, Hyde will spend the next year of her life walking cross- country from Portland to Washington, D.C., raising funds and awareness about the AIDS epidemic. She will be leaving on Aug. 30 and plans to arrive in the nation’s capital on June 10,1993, her 50th birthday. On her journey through the rural heartland of America, Hyde wants to emphasize the imme diacy of the AIDS epidemic for all people, regard less of gender, socioeconomic status, race or age. The Portland letter carrier will also be raising funds for AIDS education and research. Hyde’s union, the National Association of Letter Carri ers, has already pledged major support, and she will be soliciting support all along her journey. . For more information call (503) 233-6299, or send your contribution to Judith’s Journey, P.O. Box 86143, Portland, OR 97286. — A9 an activist in Portland’s lesbian and gay community for years, I am fighting mad. The OCA’9 latest attempt to legally make us eoond class citizens by amending the Oregon Constitution is an outrage. Here’s what I’ve decided to do: for every client who wears an anti-OCA button, volunteers or in some way helps out, I will donate % o f my net proceeds to 20 9 5 The Campaign For A Hate Free Oregon — the group running the statewide campaign against the OCA’s initiative. I am proud to provide ethical, professional and caring real estate services. I am also proud to be a member of Oregon’9 lesbian and gay community. Whether you are in the market to buy or sell, join with me to Tight those who would deny us that pride. Susan Baker Judith Hyde The journey of Judith Cathy Siemens Bridgetown Realty Bridgetown Realty need not be an actual member of a particular target group in order to be a victim, but merely be perceived as such. Phone harassment is the most common act of bias perpetrated on gays and lesbians, according to C.W. Jensen, one of the twer Portland Police detectives assigned specifically to bias-crimes investigation. Often the callers are so cowardly that they avoid facing the live voice of the target individual, resorting instead to leaving their hate ful comments on telephone message machines. Jensen encouraged people to report all incidents to the bias crimes unit “If the victim believes that this was precipitated because of who they are, we’re going to classify it as a bias crime.” Of 155 reported bias crimes in Portland last year, 89 were related to race, 26 to sexual orien tation and 14 to religion. Jensen said, “What I have found is that, particularly in the gay and lesbian community, there is a great deal of hesi tancy to report that they have been victims of bias crimes. Many fear being victimized all over again as a result of reporting the crime, most commonly by public exposure, which may jeopardize em ployment, living arrangements, or open them up to further harassment” Thus, hate crimes against gays and lesbians are vastly underreported. Another concern often expressed is that crimi nals are rarely jailed anymore, and as soon as they are released they are likely to tiy to get even with their victims for pressing charges. Although the meeting was not very well at tended, Chief Potter and members of the presen tation panel remained optimistic. “The effort will have been a success as long as those who did attend share the experience and information with other members of the community,” Potter com mented. ( 503 ) 287-9370 (503)238-0135( home ) Judith Hyde has lost too many people to AIDS. She has felt the impact of AIDS in the deaths of friends and has seen AIDS in her role as a group facilitate- for both the Cascade AIDS Project and the Dougy Center. Hyde realized that even more had to be done when, through the Cascade AIDS Project, she became involved with a local family. The father was living with AIDS. Hyde’s group offered to send educators in to the local schools to help the students understand AIDS. The school district rejected the offer, claiming that AIDS was not an appropriate issue for them. Bias crimes up in Lane County According to a report by the state’s Law En forcement Data System, bias crimes in Lane County increased by 42 percent in 1991. Most offenses were racially motivated. The second- largest category consisted of crimes committed because of the victim’s perceived sexual orienta tion. A total of 60 bias crimes were reported in Lane County last year. The report suggests that the increase reveals not only an acutal rise in crimes motivated by prejudice but an increased willingness of the victims to report crimes. It suggests that in creased police training to identify and report bias crimes may also be a factor in the increase.
