hate crimes

[Kayak Fish]

I sympathize with you SWGB, but if that fellow had beaten someone else up because he was fat or had a cleft palate, he would get less punishment. The message that sends is that it's OK to hate some people but not other people, or at least that it is more OK. This violates equal protection under the law as far as I am concerned.

 

[sunspotbaby]

I sympathize with you SWGB, but if that fellow had beaten someone else up because he was fat or had a cleft palate, he would get less punishment. The message that sends is that it's OK to hate some people but not other people, or at least that it is more OK. This violates equal protection under the law as far as I am concerned.

good point. Sorry you had to experience that SWGB.

So let me get this straight: if i'm being raped and murdered and the offender calls me a lesbian, white biatch, he's going to get more jail time than if he just kept his mouth shut?? I'm sorry, but that doesn't make a lick of sense to me....like I said, useless law. IMO. :roll:

 

[aggieb]

As a victim of a hate crime I do like them.

While in high school I was beat up because I was gay. The guy who did it was arrested and charged with a hate crime. Hate crime laws do exist for a reason. I was beat up for being gay, nothing more. I didn't insult this person, harm him, steal from him, or threaten him in any way. Initially I was told by the school's administrator that there really wasn't anything he could do since I was "flaunting" my sexual orientation. Flaunting apparently means eaves dropping. Basically I was told that I should take a beating and brush it off. They weren't even going to suspend the guy until the cops got involved because I went outside to a pay phone and called 911. The standard at the time was any violence resulted in a no questions asked 10 day suspension. I had to get 10 stitches, had a black eye, bruised kidney, and was black and blue from head to toe. .

 

[Mango]

I sympathize with you SWGB, but if that fellow had beaten someone else up because he was fat or had a cleft palate, he would get less punishment. The message that sends is that it's OK to hate some people but not other people, or at least that it is more OK. This violates equal protection under the law as far as I am concerned.

You make a valid point, but what you're talking about is the regular school yard bully mentality. All of us have seen that at some point in our life and most bullies outgrow that mentality. I think the hate crime legislation is appropriate, because usually, the people who commit these crimes are not first time offenders and will continue their serial harassment. They often seek like thinking people, which is why the FBI has a watch list of groups. It's not the same as gangs who rob and steal. There is outright hatred of certain groups. I also do not think that all murders or crimes are hate driven.

Of course, there are instances where a crime could be construed as a hate crime that was just plain stupidity. It happened locally a few years ago. A white young man, who just lost his father, put a burning cross on the lawn of an AA boy who harassed his sister at high school and physically assaulted her-- all over a stupid seat in breakroom. He was best friends with an AA Lieutenant's son who works for my husband, off duty. The young man never had any past record, was a nice kid overall, just did something really stupid because he was distraught and confused, not fully understanding the ramifications of his actions. Now he is paying the price of a hate crime while the other kid got off with a warning for assaulting his sister. This is probably a much more isolated incident than most hate crimes where the intent of hate is much more pronounced. This kid was really trying to induce fear and send a message to leave his sister alone, just was assinine in his approach.

But, I feel the law is appropriate.

 

[Teresa]

the law may seem unnecessary or unequal on the surface but its intention is to protect people who are being targeted (statistically significant numbers of victims of targeted groups). the law helps draw attention to these kinds of criminal acts, so we can understand the problem of hate crimes, so we can do something about it.

its a crime directed at not just one person - the crime is directed at an entire community of people.... hate crimes should not be tolerated and if the law helps elevate awareness, educate people about their rights to protection from hate crimes, and hopefully get the message out to society that hate crimes will be federally prosecuted, then the law is doing what it is intended to do - to protect those who are most often victims of such crimes. to make clear that hate crimes will not be tolerated by society. I view hate crime law as an extension of civil rights. the victims belong to various minority groups.. people have the right to protection under the law. a hate crime deserves its own criminal category - it is different from other violent crimes in many ways and should be treated as such.

I would think that anyone who has been subjected to hate crime, or anyone who has had a family member or close friend who has been subjected (due to sexual orientation, religion, color, disability, etc... ) they would absolutely support any hate crime legislation and protection under the law.

irrational hatred for others is willful stupidity - people who act on their irrational hatred of a specific group are a danger to us all. sometimes laws need to be passed to address unique criminal behavior in society, such as hate crimes, to protect against such irrational violence. hopefully, there will come a time that such a law will be unnecessary.

I have never had a friend subjected to a hate crime. until swgb. thank you for sharing your story. your story makes the subject of hate crime law even more important to me and a great deal more relevant to my life and all the wonderful people in it.