Opinion No. (2005)

BILL LOCKYER Attorney General SUSAN DUNCAN LEE Deputy Attorney General

THE HONORABLE SHEILA JAMES KUEHL, MEMBER OF THE STATE SENATE, has requested an opinion on the following questions:

1. If a perpetrator commits a sexual assault wholly or partly because of the victim's gender, and the perpetrator has no animosity toward the individual victim or toward persons with that gender, has a hate crime been committed?

2. If a perpetrator commits a crime wholly or partly because the perpetrator perceives that the victim's disability, gender, or other protected characteristic makes the victim more…