Opinion & Commentary:
Name the crime for what it is
By Cheryl Orson
Jan. 18, 2008

After arresting four teenagers for destroying almost 500 gravestones at Poile Zedek Cemetery in New Brunswick, city officials have determined this was not a bias incident.

In a written statement provided by Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce Kaplan and New Brunswick Deputy Police Director Anthony Caputo, it specifically stated, "While the investigation is ongoing, the facts as presently known do not indicate that the damage caused was an attempt to intimidate, target or harm the Jewish community...[and] do not indicate that these juveniles were part of or otherwise acted under the direction of an organized gang or hate group."

The teens were charged with delinquency, criminal mischief, desecration of venerated objects and conspiracy to commit desecration. Though each count carries up to two years in prison upon conviction, there would obviously be a much harsher penalty to pay if these actions were considered to be what many of those victimized feel they should be -- biased crimes.

Poile Zedek is clearly a Jewish cemetery containing monuments bearing Hebrew lettering and stars of David, not the typical crosses and other symbols of Christianity at other sites. This, along with extent of destruction and level of violence evident in this desecration, with some headstones weighing over a ton and the police estimating it took more than four hours to wreak the total amount of damage, should raise this to a level beyond mere typical teenage "criminal mischief."

Despite the written statement released to the press and printed in newspapers throughout the state, this act was, in fact, meant to "harm" one ethnic group -- the Jews. As such, this group was clearly the "target." And, yes, it did "intimidate" some or simply scare others. Ignoring the obvious facts and writing that such was not the case does not make it true.

Further, ironically enough, while these teens plundered sacred ground, the Legislature was debating and passing a bill to strengthen the state's bias crimes laws, including expanding the state's definition of hate crimes to include acts aimed at gays and lesbians. This is important, as New Jersey is second only to California in the total number of bias incidents, with a 2003 state report finding that half of all bias crimes are committed by youths between the ages of 11 and 20.

Clearly, something needs to be done. And this has to start with naming an evil act for what it is -- a bias crime. Only then can then punishment be exacted to the letter of the law. And only then will the victims, many of them the descendents of Holocaust survivors and those who witnessed such desecration during Kristallnacht, receive full restitution for what they have suffered at the hands of these supposedly "youthful and unthinking" vandals.