I am getting sick and tired of the ridiculous misconception that every crime where the perpetrator and the victim have different colored skin is a hate crime. There are plenty of motives for beating and killing people besides racism.
Life is a tragedy for those who feel and a comedy for those who think.
Granted, there are enough racially-motivated crimes happening out there that it’s easy to jump to the conclusion that most interracial crimes fall under that umbrella. My instinct is to look at crime as one person versus another instead of one race versus another.
I agree with you, but that’s boring, and it does not sell papers/tv news ads.
We already had a rather extensive “Hate Crimes” thread a month or so back, with both pro and con views represented very nicely.
I answer the OP in this manner simply because I was against special Hate Crime legislation myself.
Yer pal,
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RoboDude, you had me worried. I thought the evil Nazi pod people had started taking over the board (and Ed was the carrier).
I am for any legislation that makes the criminal have to do more time. I don’t understand why people are so offended that a white person that commits a heinous crime and is charged with a hate crime could possibly get a harsher sentence because of it. Maybe it isn’t quite fair that black people are rarely charged with hate crimes, but so what? Look at the current prison system. In most places the number of black people in prison far exceeds whites. Why are people trying to protect criminals??? Are you mad that a criminal that happens to be white might get too stiff a sentence? Geez, he/she is a criminal! If there is a way to make sentences for violent crimes harsher then I say go for it! To hell with the fact that it might be white people that will get the harsher sentence. They might be white but they are still criminals.
In essence, will someone please tell me what is so horrible about legislation that makes criminals have to do more time? Is it just because it mainly affects white people? That sounds to me like someone that wants to go commit a crime against a black person but is worried that they may be charged with a hate crime and it just isn’t fair because their black friends can commit crimes against whites and not be charged with a hate crime.
Someone justify why they think hate crime legislation is a bad thing.
Here’s the thread I started in GD on the subject of hate crime legislation.
http://www.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum7/HTML/000598.html
Personally, I think that the only thing wrong with anti-hate crime laws is that they are useless, feel-good nonsense that have virtually no effect on the actual rate of hate crimes.
Life is a tragedy for those who feel and a comedy for those who think.
I’m a white gay male (and according to a few here a commie for my views) and I oppose special hate crime legislation. I think it takes the emphasis off of real personal injury and property crime.
To see a crime ennacted that limits speach while gay-bashers (felony assault and murder 1 raps) get let free on twinkie and gay panic defenses seems absurd. I say go after the judges who allow these real crimes to go unpunished, through rigorous judicial review. Poor judgements have to be challenged in by the plaintiffs via appeal, it should be by the judiciary. They are the real problem and the source of the miscarriage of justice that make a need for band-aid hate crime legislation.