Arkansas Senate approves hate crime bill advocates decry as "sham"
CBSN
The Arkansas Senate on Wednesday approved a stripped-down hate crimes bill derided by longtime supporters of such legislation who claim the measure is too vague and would provide "insufficient" medicine for a state that's one of only three nationwide without such a law.
The Senate voted 22-7 in favor of the alternate measure, which its supporters have called a "class protection" bill. The bill, which now heads to the House, requires offenders to serve at least 80% of their sentence if they committed a serious violent felony against someone because of their "mental, physical, biological, cultural, political, or religious beliefs or characteristics." Unlike an earlier bill that was rejected by a committee, the new measure doesn't use the term hate crimes or refer to specific classes such as race, sexual orientation or gender identity.Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.