Here's what I find fascinating.

The U.S.imprisons more people than any other developed nation. The majority ofAmericans support the death penalty. We're willing to put minors on trial as adults andexecute mentally ill offenders. So why, given our eye-for-an-eye system ofpunishment, wouldn't Congress pass legislation that would give law enforcementofficials another tool to get the bad guys off the streets and into prisons?

A tool such as this could have made it easier to prosecutethose who beat Luis Ramirez to death in Pennsylvania; or the man who bludgeonedteenager Angie Zapata to death with a fire extinguisher in Colorado; or thepair who robbed, tortured and left to die – tied to a fence outside of Laramie,Wyoming – a young man named Matthew Shepard.

The men who murdered Luis Ramirez also yelled racialepithets at him. Angie Zapata was transgender. Matthew Shepard was gay. And thetool that would offer assistance from the federal government to local and stateauthorities is the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act now beingconsidered in the U.S. Congress.

The legislation, also known as the Matthew Shepard Act,would assist federal officials in their prosecution of hate crimes that targetvictims because of race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation,sexual identity or disability. The attorneys general in 26 states support thelegislation (according to Attorney General Lori Swanson's office, Minnesota'sattorney general has not signed onto support the legislation). More than 300organizations, including the National Sheriffs Association, the EpiscopalChurch and the YWCA, also support the act. Gallup and Hart Research polls from2007, during another time when hate crimes legislation was considered, showedthat the majority of Americans favored the strengthening of these laws.

Yet some conservative religious groups, such as the LibertyCouncil and Traditional Values Coalition, have labeled the act as "dangerouslegislation" that will threaten freedom of speech and freedom of religion – eventhough the legislation is clear that to be prosecuted under this law the hatecrime must involve acts of violence. They go further in their claims stating thatthe act, if passed, will punish people for what they think.

That isn't true. Criminals will be punished for committingacts of violence and the Justice Department will have more authority to dotheir jobs. Isn't this common ground that all of us – no matter our politicalpersuasion and religious beliefs – can share?

The U.S. House of Representatives could vote on the LocalLaw Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act by the end of April. A similarversion of the legislation is expected to be introduced in the U.S. Senatesoon.

Perhaps this will be the year when law enforcement in thiscountry will be strengthened, and the perpetrators of hate-based violence will beheld accountable, and punished, for the totality of their crimes.