Arkansas Governor Signs Alternative Hate Crimes Bill
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson on April 14 signed into state law what’s been deemed as an alternative hate crimes bill.
Arkansas SB 622, introduced as a class protection bill, requires criminal defendants to serve at least 80 percent of their sentences if it’s found that they had “purposely selected the victim because the victim was a member of or was associated with a recognizable and identifiable group or class who share mental, physical, biological, cultural, political, or religious beliefs or characteristics.”
The bill was filed in the state Senate on April 1 by state Republican Sens. Jimmy Hickey Jr. and Alan Clark, and Reps. Matthew Shepherd and Carol Dalby, and was approved 22–7 on a party-line vote on April 7. The Republican-majority Arkansas House later voted 65–26 in favor of the measure on April 12 before it headed to Hutchinson’s desk.