dstieger wrote:Are there any hate crimes that are NOT criminal acts if the offender doesn't hate the victim?
Do our lawmakers believe that the addition of stiffer penalties for 'hate crimes' will somehow dissuade those people from committing crimes who are very likely the least rational of all lawbreakers?
I don't get it. Is it just so that newscasters can announce that "Police are investigating this incident as a possible hate crime."? Somehow, I suppose it makes better news that way.
I think people look at this stuff out of context way too often, and generally being a group of white males here, everyone seems to think hate crimes are punishment for being white or some crap like that.
What no one seems to remember is it wasn't that long ago that white men could commit crimes against blacks, asians, gays, trans and receive pretty light sentences. The deck was literally stacked in our favor, as a lot of judges had a very similar mindset. If the judge thinks beating a black man for saying "hi" to a white woman is justifiably defending her honor, then it's unlikely that your sentence will really be commensurate with the crime. This way the prosecutor can identify very specific minimum sentencing requirements for these sorts of crimes.