Two former employees of a Pennsylvania in-patient healthcare facility have been indicted on federal hate crimes. The residents at the facility suffered from a range of severe physical, intellectual, and emotional disabilities, and required assistance with all activities of daily life, including bathing, using the bathroom, oral hygiene, feeding, and dressing. As members of the facility’s direct care staff, the two former employees were responsible for providing this daily assistance to residents.
The indictment alleges that from June 2016 to September 2017, the pair engaged in a conspiracy to commit hate crimes, and did commit hate crimes, against residents of the facility because of the residents’ actual or perceived disabilities. As part of the conspiracy, the indictment further alleges that they exchanged text messages in which they expressed their hostility toward the disabled residents, shared pictures and videos of residents and attacks, described their attacks, and encouraged each other’s continued abuse of residents. They allegedly carried out their attacks in a variety of ways, including by punching and kicking residents, jumping on them, rubbing liquid irritants in their eyes, and by spraying liquid irritants in their eyes and mouths.
The pair allegedly were able to avoid detection by, among other things, exploiting their one-on-one access to residents of the facility and the fact that the victims were nonverbal and could not report the alleged abuse. The former employees are also charged with engaging in a scheme to conceal their assaults against residents at the facility.
The maximum penalty for the conspiracy and concealment charges is a term of imprisonment of five years and a $250,000 fine. The maximum penalty for each of the ten hate crime charges is a term of imprisonment of ten years and a $250,000 fine. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the actual sentence imposed would be based upon the seriousness of the offenses and the prior criminal history, if any, of the defendants, among other statutory sentencing factors.
Issue:
At the federal level, hate crime laws include crimes committed on the basis of the victim’s perceived or actual race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or disability. Most state hate crime laws include crimes committed on the basis of race, color, and religion; many also include crimes committed on the basis of sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, and disability. Staff members should be knowledgeable of what constitutes a hate crime and of their responsibility to report violations immediately. Staff members must also receive periodic training on all aspects of abuse, neglect, and exploitation prevention, identification, and reporting.
Discussion Points:
- Review your policies and procedures on preventing abuse, neglect, and exploitation. Ensure that your policies include identifying and reporting abuse, neglect, or exploitation, including that which could be considered a hate crime.
- Train all staff on what constitutes a hate crime and also on their responsibility for preventing and reporting abuse, neglect, and exploitation. Document that these trainings occurred and file the signed document in each employee’s education file.
- Periodically audit staff members understanding by questioning them as to what constitutes a hate crime and how would they report one.
