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If a crime is found to be motivated by hatred based on the victim's religion, ethnic background, sexual orientation, etc., then the criminal charges are enhanced. It's that simple.
Makes sense to me. I've never understood why righties are so against this get tough on crime measure - they're usually in love with such things.
If a crime is found to be motivated by hatred based on the victim's religion, ethnic background, sexual orientation, etc., then the criminal charges are enhanced. It's that simple.
All violent crimes are hate crimes, period. It is the crime itself which is abhorrent and should be punished. Gender, religion, race, sexual preference should matter not. Prosecute all violent crimes to the maximum extent.
This "special category" for each victim is demeaning and dehumanizing to all, including those this PC categorization it was intended to serve.
I agree they are all hate crime. It was hate crime when gay's danaged those chruches i california i their public portest. All kinds of crimes are hate crimes.
All violent crimes are hate crimes, period. It is the crime itself which is abhorrent and should be punished. Gender, religion, race, sexual preference should matter not. Prosecute all violent crimes to the maximum extent.
This "special category" for each victim is demeaning and dehumanizing to all, including those this PC categorization it was intended to serve.
The gender, religion, race, sexual orientation, etc, of the victim doesn't matter. There are no "special categories" of victims. Bias motivated sentence enhancements deal with criminal motivations.
As a gay guy myself I am sort of torn on this issue...I just go by what I see..Where I live a few years ago there were murders of Migrant workers...They were known to keep cash in thier homes...all the news outlets branded this as a hate crime etc etc I mean clearly they were targeting the hispanic workers..they broke into over 3 homes and murdered the migrant workers and stole all the cash..well when they caught the suspects they happend to be African american,then all of a sudden the media backed off the hate crime thing...well why?? they were clearly targeting the migrant workers..to me that constitutes a hate crime!! I really can see both sides of this issue.
If a crime is found to be motivated by hatred based on the victim's religion, ethnic background, sexual orientation, etc., then the criminal charges are enhanced. It's that simple.
Why is a crime any worse just because the person found something personal about you that they did not like? By your logic, any assault against you by a person who knew you personally, should carry an enhanced sentence over a complete stranger.
"And your honor, the assailant hated his victim for stealing his girl friend in the 5th grade, and he referred to him as a 'red-headed dick weed'."
"Your honor, my client did not know the victim personally, and it was too dark to form an opinion on the victims race. He just randomly beat the hell out him because he is a cruel person, so his sentence should be lower."
The Supreme Court case I alluded to above that dealt with bias-motivated sentence enhancement laws (Wisconsin v. Mitchell) involved a group of black men who, after watching Mississippi Burning, decided to go and assault any white person they came across ("beat up whitey"). They beat a 14 year old white boy into a coma.
One significant difference, Wisconsin v. Mitchell, 508 US 476 (1993), involved a State law, not a federal law. The federal government is restricted to only those powers specifically granted by the US Constitution. States do not have that limitation.
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The gender, religion, race, sexual orientation, etc, of the victim doesn't matter. There are no "special categories" of victims. Bias motivated sentence enhancements deal with criminal motivations.
