Displaying a Noose Should Not Be Made a Crime

Hate Might Be the Motive for Displaying a Noose, but the Concept of Hate Crimes Creates Many Problems

Currently, it is not a crime in New York State to display a hangmans noose, but proposed legislation, already passed in the Senate, seeks to make it one; and similar legislation is in the works for other states. The proposed New York law states that a person is guilty of aggravated harassment in the first degree if he or she "Etches, paints, draws upon or otherwise places or displays a noose...on any building... without express permission of the owner...of such building." Such a display will not be considered a crime unless it is done with the "intent to harass, annoy, threaten or alarm another person because of a belief or perception regarding such person's race, color, national origin, ancestry, gender, religion, religious practice, age, disability or sexual orientation..." Theoretically a person could still legally protest against Al Sharpton by hanging him in effigy, but I wouldn't count on not getting arrested for doing so.If the above proposal is made law, it most likely will withstand any constitutional challenge. In 2003, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Virginia v. Black that "a State, consistent with the First Amendment, may ban cross burning carried out with the intent to intimidate." It's not difficult to see that placing a noose on a Black professor's door is not much different than burning a cross on her lawn.

New York's proposed law is not actually a new law. Rather it is an amendment to Penal Law 240.31 that already bans the display of swastikas and cross burnings if done with the intent to intimidate.

This law, along with many others, is part of the New York State Hate Crimes Act of 2000, an act which primarily adds prison time to crimes in which the victim is targeted because of race, color, etc. For example, Caleb Lussier pled guilty on October 29, 2007 to torching a church in Warren County. He burned it because he did not believe the parishioners were following the teachings of the Bible. Since his action was a hate crime, he will serve a longer term than the typical arsonist.