Statement released by the Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project:
At approximately 12:30 AM on Monday, September 10th, a New Bedford resident was the victim of a violent assault and battery near Spiritus Pizza in Provincetown. The victim was discovered unconscious at around 3 AM, lying on the beach covered in bruises, dried blood, and lacerations. He had suffered serious head and facial trauma, but the responding officer failed to arrange for medical care. The last thing the victim recalls hearing before he was struck in the head with a blunt object and blacked out was the word “faggot.” The perpetrators remain at large, but it is unclear whether Provincetown Police are conducting an active investigation.
Given the serious bodily injury the victim suffered, and the clear bias indicator evidence, the assault and battery qualifies as a felony hate crime under G.L. c. 265, § 39 and felony interference with civil rights by force under G.L. c. 265, § 37. The penalties for these two crimes alone are a maximum 15 years in state prison; coupled with the penalties for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, the perpetrators face a possible sentence of 25 years in state prison.
This horrific assault comes at a time when the Provincetown Police Department is under fire over the violent arrest of Boston DJ Barry Scott at a backyard birthday party on July 14th. Mr. Scott was left bloodied and bruised by the arresting officers, although he had complied with their demand to stop the music, and announced that he was not resisting them. Mr. Scott, 44, stands 5’ 4” and weighs 130 lbs. The arresting officers, summer cops who had received little training, were both strapping six footers of college age. Mr. Scott is currently facing charges of disorderly conduct and disturbing the police for allegedly uttering the words “The Provincetown Police are here to ruin our night. We hate them.” after the music was turned off.
The Anti-Violence Project has mounting concerns about the safety of LGBT visitors to Provincetown given these two cases of serious violence in a short time period. According to Chairperson Don Gorton, “We lack confidence that the Provincetown Police Department, under its current interim leadership, is willing or able to adequately protect LGBT visitors. The Department is incapably led, seriously understaffed, undertrained, and undersupervised. Gorton announced that the Anti-Violence Project would continue and step up its advocacy efforts until confidence is restored in the Provincetown Police Department: “The Provincetown Police Department desperately needs to be reformed.”
Mandatory minimum sentences for hate crimes? The post says there is a “maximum 15 years in state prison” but should there be a minimum requirement say like a 5 year minimum in prison for people who commit hate crimes?
if so, why? if not, why not?
With all criminal statutes, there are min and max jail terms and fines.
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Interesting pic, by the way on the troll’s post. I’ve got a few better pics from Guam about 30 years ago. That I actually took myself.
i was calling it’s bluff.
I know it takes the decision making process out of the judges hands (and I think that is a bad thing) BUT at the same time I'm just sick of hearing about cases where judges let people off. I know I'm choosing between 2 evils here and I'm bound to upset someone. But it's how I feel.
on the rating you can see who rated the comment.
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and you’re welcome. 🙂
… the 'stuck between two evils' feeling.
For my part I feel you can always make a comment about what is just for a particular crime 'in general', but those general feelings do not, in the end, take away from the fact that the actual individual punnishment must fit all of the context of the actual individual crime. For me, minimums remove opportunity to absorb that context.
Legislatures and Congress went overboard in establishing mandatory minimums in the 90's, and it's controversial whether they afford added deterrence. I'm concerned that if mandatory minimums applied to hate crimes cases prosecutors might be more reluctant to charge, and juries more reluctant to convict. At the same time, judges need to punish hate crimes more severely than they have been in the past; that' the purpose of having hate crimes laws which “enhance penalties.”
“He had suffered serious head and facial trauma, but the responding officer failed to arrange for medical care.”
Are you kidding me?! What excuse can one possibly have for this? We need to start making phone calls to the town manager and selectmen. How outrageous.
and for whatever reason, I received no call back. Which is typical with her even though I told her of the seriousness of the matter and that KTN wanted a response.
Sometimes the ones that we think are “in our court” are not.
Last I looked she reports to the people who elected her. BFD if Know Thy Nieghbor wants a response. Are you a resident of the district? If so you should get a response…at some point. Of course she has NOTHING to do with this. She has no authority in this matter and if she inquires into this, no one (the police or Select Board) have no reason to give her info. IN fact it would be wrong for the Police to give her info on an ongoing matter.
and as an active blog, reports on issues, stories and information that we receive about many things aside from marriage. Whether you realize it or not blogs at times have the responsibility as journalists and try to report accurately and honestly. BMG interviews people all the time as do we.
Sarah Peake in her current and former capacity is an interesting person to provide us with a quote for the story that we are working on. And in her current capacity and as a memeber of the LGBT community I find her comment or lack there of of note to my community.
by your logic, Barney Frank, should have kept his mouth shut…
Why don't you give him a call and tell him that, even I don't have the balls to tell Barney to “zip it.”
… and decide if they want to answer to self-appointed guardians of the truth or not.
First, legislators work for all of us–especially when they ask for and receive money from ALL of us.
And secondly, KnowThyNeighbor by virtue of what we have done and continue to do is in the middle of alot of things. So I would appreciate you keeping the snide comments to yourself.
Regarding what happened in Provincetown recently, I was the first to be contacted by the alleged victim of a hate crime. In this particular instance I felt the best thing for me to do was not go public but to put this person in contact with the Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project whom I know will give the victim the best direction and will promote positive and affirming changes if needed in Provincetown making it a place that is safe for everyone.
Why did the victim contact me? Because I am in the press, I believe I do good work for the community and most importantly, because it appears the LGBT leadership is not doing its job letting our community know how to contact the necessary people when issues such as this happen. I was in the middle of the Puzzles Lounge cleanup and I can tell you, it was a mess. The victims had no place to turn, there was no funding being generated to help them, and aside from Barney Frank and the Mayor, there was no response from leadership. KTN forced Mitt Romney's hand and made him give a public statement about the horror in New Bedford.
I and KTN do more than just sit on blogs and denegrate people, Mr. Skeffington.
I'm just pointing out that a state rep–unless they want to–does not get involved in a criminal investigation. (See more in my comment to Raj).
If you are in the press, I'd assume you understand the roles and responsiblities of different office holders.
And what aggressive attitude are you referring to. You have pretty thin skin if you think my two comments are “agressive”. And BTW, you have no idea what I do other than blog, so stop prejudging people.
other than that you would really have to tell us as it is difficult for us to guess from your posts
I presume that she is an elected legislator. She has the right to say, yes, no, I don’t know, and, I don’t care (which can be inferred from multiple “I don’t knows”).
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People can take those responses into account when deciding whether or not to vote for her in the next election.
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As a legislator (presumed) she has unusual access to the reports of the police. If she is not willing to use that access, an “I don’t care” is not outside the realm of possibility.
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This isn’t math, Mr. Skeffington. This is perception.
…that s legislator has nay unusual access to police reports. A state rep has no authority to get involved in such a matter. If they chose to advocate or issue a statement…fine, that's their decision. But to expect, as Alexander does apparently, for her is did involved is…uninformed about how the system works. Secure funds for P-Town–sure call Sarah Peake, that's her job. Get involved in a crimal matter–not her job.
…and for whatever reason, I received no call back…
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One of the reasons that Barney Frank is so popular in his district is that he is almost immediately responsive.
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My spouse in 1989 called his office to register a complaint about his stand on an issue. It doesn’t matter what the issue was. THAT VERY NIGHT, we got a call back from Barney, personally, to discuss the issue with my spouse.
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We (my spouse & I) still to not see eye to eye with Barney on every issue, but I will tell you that, given that he was at least willing to call us to discuss the issue with us on a Friday night was exactly what brought us into his corner.
…, who used to answer his own phone in DC when his admin had a lunch hour. And by his own phone I mean the number that anyone can get when you looked up his office.