Franklin Sechriest Burns Synagogue

On Friday, April 7th, 2023, Texan man Franklin Sechriest  pleaded guilty to a hate crime and arson in connection with a fire he set at the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue in Austin, Texas, on Oct. 31, 2021 (he was 19 at the time). A synagogue is a Jewish house of worship in which Sechriest purposefully targeted this group. According to his journals, Sechriest went there to “scout out a target,” in which he admitted that  he targeted the synagogue because of his hatred of Jews. Sechriest’s journals were filled with vulgar antisemitic statements and views. Additionally, Sechriest had many decals and stickers with antisemitic representations. On the night of the arson, Sechriest drove to the synagogue and was seen on surveillance video with a 5-gallon container and toilet paper. Instantly, many cameras captured the glow of a fire from the direction of the sanctuary. This crime demonstrates the social unjust in United States society through the continuation of many hate crimes. These crimes are believed upon society to “devastate and terrorize communities.” In hope of preventing hate crimes like this from happening, there are some policy based approaches that could be helpful. First, hate crime laws could be strengthened to protect targeted groups by defining hate crimes, and increasing penalties for hate crimes. Additionally, the government can work to identify the root cause of these hate crimes. This could be a variety of things such as social and economic inequality, discrimination, lack of access to education and opportunities, etc. Policy measures could be enacted to battle each of these to hope to prevent such a crime from occurring again. Although it is hard to fully prevent any hate crime from ever happening again, policy actions such as these ones could somewhat contribute to this cause. Overall, this hate crime led by Sechriest of setting a synagogue on fire is a clear example of the continued social unjust in United States society. Policy measures through the government are necessary to help prevent further hate crimes.