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We've been through this whole "hate crimes = discrimination" b.s. many times before.
In the hate crime situation we not only have the consideration of deterrence and public safety, we also have the fact that crimes based on categorical prejudice against certain groups, whether they be white people, black people, women, men,, people of different sexual orientation, or people of different religions have a pernicious effect on society because they have the intent and effect of making the members of the victim category less able to fully participate in civil society.
Where does it end? If one sprts fan kills the sports fan of another team because they he doesn't like (i.e. hates) fans of the other team, is it a hate crime? A right-handed person killing a left-handed person? A person who's militant about making sure the roll of toilet paper goes over the top kills someone who likes it coming from underneath? It seems a hate crime can be anyone killing someone else for anything that person believes that is different from the killer.
If crimes against minorities had been vigorously prosecuted in the past rather than those who are responsible for seeing those prosecutions take place look the other way.... there wouldn't had been a need for designating certain crimes as hate crimes which then permitted federal involvement.
Nobody to blame for this but those who didn't see that justice was served.
The person is not being punished for what they were thinking, they are punished because their hate filled thoughts are manifested into actual harm, and that harm is only meant to cause fear, death, intimidation, based on one's race.
You really should read your post again.
So hate filled thoughts while killing someone is a hate crime.......but that's not being punished for thoughts???????
Think of it this way: A hate crime has two components, the physical act of violence and the motivation of race or other hatred. So a hate crime law punishes for two components, each being an element of a crime. If someone clobbers me because they don't like my skin color they get punished for both hating my skin color and for clobbering me. So: if you can be punished only for the crime of clobbering me, can you also be punished solely for the 'crime' of not liking my skin color? This criminalizes hatred, which is only a state of mind and hence criminalizes mere thought. Not cool.
It sounds even sillier when you put it that way. I don't know much about the case law behind hate crimes legislation but it appears to be a violation of the 14th amendment. You are treating one class of victims different than the other based on motives arising from racial, gender. Or other classifications.
No, you're treating a class of criminals differently based on their motives. Just like first degree murder vs. manslaughter; the intent (or thought) behind the crime . Crimes based on hatred for a race, sexual orientation, etc. rather than based on hatred for an individual have terroristic overtones. Terrorism is considered to be worse than simple homicide, because it affects more people.
If crimes against minorities had been vigorously prosecuted in the past rather than those who are responsible for seeing those prosecutions take place look the other way.... there wouldn't had been a need for designating certain crimes as hate crimes which then permitted federal involvement.
Nobody to blame for this but those who didn't see that justice was served.
I can assure you that if I'm ever on a jury where someone is accused of a hate crime, their thoughts will never be a consideration.
No, you're treating a class of criminals differently based on their motives. Just like first degree murder vs. manslaughter; the intent (or thought) behind the crime . Crimes based on hatred for a race, sexual orientation, etc. rather than based on hatred for an individual have terroristic overtones. Terrorism is considered to be worse than simple homicide, because it affects more people.
The difference between first degree murder and manslaughter has nothing at all to do with your thoughts.
One is intentional killing, the other is accidental.
They're not discriminatory at all. They're based on motivation. If the black guy killed the other black guy based on his race, then indeed, it could be considered a hate crime based on race.
Scenario A: a black guy kills a Mexican guy because he is Mexican and gets life in prison, no parole because it is a hate crime.
Scenario B: A black guy kills another black guy, gets 35-live possible parole in 20 years.
Outcome: discrimination. The black guy that was murdered has been deemed "less than" the Mexican guy that was murdered, simply based on race, despite the fact that the crimes were identical.
The crimes aren't identical. The intents - or motivations - were very different. Intent is a huge factor in determining sentence terms and even in distinguishing what crime has been committed (manslaughter vs. 2nd degree murder vs 1st degree murder, etc).
The difference between first degree murder and manslaughter has nothing at all to do with your thoughts.
One is intentional killing, the other is accidental.
LOLwhut?? You mean, they didn't think in order to develop intent?
"I am going to kill this person" is a thought that indicates intent. So, yes, their thoughts (intent) matters.
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