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Md. lawmakers consider new penalties for nooses, swastikas

January 18th, 2019 by WCBC Radio

Swastikas and nooses were the main focus as the House Judiciary Committee met this week for the first time in Maryland’s new legislative session. WTOP reports the committee considered a bill — introduced by Del. Mark Chang — that would make it a crime to place a noose or swastika on someone’s property in an effort to threaten or intimidate. “The penalty for committing this crime would be a misdemeanor and imprisonment for up to three years or a $5,000 fine,” Chang said during Tuesday’s hearing. “Symbols of hate have no place in our community.”

He cited numerous examples in recent months, including the distribution of Ku Klux Klan propaganda in various neighborhoods and the discovery of swastikas at Goucher College and the University of Maryland-College Park.

Chang highlighted a case from 2017 involving a 19-year-old man who was found not guilty of a hate crime even though he admitted to hanging a noose at Crofton Middle School.

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