A hate crimes bill is on its way to the Indiana Senate floor for the third time in four years.
A Senate committee voted 9-to-1 Monday in favor of a bill allowing judges to hand down longer sentences for crimes which target a specific group because of race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or gender identity. The bill would not create a new crime, but judges could look to biased motivations as a basis for issuing a sentence at the high end of the sentencing range.
The full Senate could vote on the bill as early as Thursday.
