Quote Originally Posted by TitoFan View Post
"A hate crime law is a law intended to prevent bias-motivated violence. Hate crime laws are distinct from laws against hate speech in that hate crime laws enhance the penalties associated with conduct that is already criminal under other laws, while hate speech laws criminalize a category of speech."


Got this out of Wikipedia, 'cause I know there's a lot of controversy surrounding hate crime laws. Let me make the disclaimer that I'm not looking for confrontation on the matter with this post, but rather try and throw some objectiveness into the subject.

Note that hate crime laws look to "enhance the penalties associated with conduct that is already criminal under other laws." So basically what I take this to mean is that, yeah... murder is murder. But intent is taken into account.

If a white man murders a black man, it's not automatically considered a hate crime. That would be ludicrous. But.... if a white supremacist gang goes out and lynches a black man... that is a hate crime. It's motivated by hate based solely on race. If there was a militant black group, and these people went out and killed a white person.... I would imagine the same thing would apply. If not, then the law is flawed.

I'm not defending the laws as they are now. I'm sure they could be improved and are probably very flawed. But hate based on race, ethnicity or religion is very wrong... and lawmakers can't be blamed for wanting to legislate to make penalties tougher.
This is not the case. White people are not a protected class and cannot legally be a victim of a federal hate crime (not sure about individual state laws). I actually didn't know this until last year when having a similar conversation with a FBI agent. These laws are not about protecting anyone but rather a knee jerk reaction by politicians to pander for votes by showing they did "something". While I don't 100% agree with some of Lyle's posts on this thread or his style I think we can all agree that one has the right to be outraged that their nation enacts laws that put the well being of some groups over others. Giving what already are felony offenses steeper penalties has not shown to be a deterrent. People willing to commit assault, rape and murder don't usually stop to consider that instead of one life sentence they might get two. The laws also have the potential to have serious 1st amendment issues by 1) Like other hate crime statutes, the law (2009 federal law) imposes extra punishment based on defendants' beliefs, and 2) it could be used as an excuse to investigate and/or prosecute people for aiding and abetting hate crimes through provocative speech. So in the end we get laws that don't produce a marked decrease in crime, pose Constitutional issues and create more racial divisiveness through unequal protection. If the goal is equality then we shouldn't legislate otherwise.

GB, I would agree intent and other circumstances should be involved in the sentencing but I'd prefer judges and juries weigh these issues on a case by case basis rather than a law that takes the decision making out of their hands.