For Immediate Release
March 18, 1998
Contact: Melissa Forsythe or Mark Pfeiffer (502) 564-2611

Governor Patton Testifies For His Landmark Crime Bill

Frankfort , Ky. - "The first major piece of criminal justice legislation in a quarter of a century…", that’s how Governor Paul Patton described HB 455, the Omnibus Crime Bill, to the Senate Judiciary Committee today. More than 100 representatives of law enforcement from across Kentucky were in the audience to show support for the bill.

"With this bill," the governor said, "we have tried to strike a balance, getting tough on violent criminals, while recognizing that many of them need treatment if they are going to stay out of prison."

In his testimony, Governor Patton focused on what he termed as two important sections of the bill that deal with ethnic intimidation and gang crime.

"Crimes of hatred should not be tolerated in Kentucky", Patton told the committee. "We need to send the message that crime committed in the name of bigotry and intolerance strikes at the fiber of our society and will be punished to the maximum extent possible", he added.

The proposed new penalties for crimes of ethnic intimidation are the result of recommendations of a 1996 Task Force made up of representatives from state and federal law enforcement and the church community appointed by the governor. The task force was formed in the wake of church burnings and other acts of racial hatred in Kentucky and across the South in 1995 and 1996.

The governor also testified that the crime bill takes aim at gangs, which he said are taking a bigger toll in Kentucky. "We could stick our heads in the sand, deny that there is a problem, claim that gangs are only an urban issue and complain that anti-gang measures target minority communities", Patton told the senators. "The truth is that gangs exist throughout the state, their numbers are growing and their members and victims are racially diverse. And let me tell you I know from personal experience there are gangs in Pikeville and as with many cases, our family’s not immune from it.", Patton added, "Make no mistake: this is not an issue of race; it is an issue of drugs, it is an issue of crime."

Governor Patton called on the legislators to give prosecutors the tools they need to address gang crime, asking the lawmakers to do something about the problem now before it becomes an unmanageable statewide problem.

"We won’t have this chance to make changes in our laws for the protection of our children and our citizens for another two years, " the governor said. "For every victim of ethnic intimidation, for every victim of gang-related crime, two years is too long to wait."

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