victor809 wrote:Tail... It may not make a difference to you or your mother, but it would make a difference to all the remaining Jewish mothers in your neighborhood who are now afraid of being targeted for being Jewish.
Punishment isnt in place to benefit the victims. It's intended to benefit society.
the truth is, I'm not sure on which side of the tw fence post I fall.
but of all the things tossed out there on both sides of the discussion over the need for the designation "hate" added to a (violent) crime, Victor has hit upon the one thing I've always held in my gut and that is hard to qualify but is likely a real motivation for the perpetrator...
the goal: make 'em all scared!
scared to be in public, scared to make eye contact, scared to live free in the land of the free.
drag a black guy behind a pick up truck, that's way louder of a statement than hating that individual because of the color of his skin, that's a threat message to all blacks in town. It has nothing in common with a random bat beating by a lunatic other than the physical damage done to the victim.
Yet I'm still wrestling with my feelings on laws for this, certainly over when and where they should apply.
I recall being 7 or 8 years old and drawing swastikas with a friend. Neither of us had a clue...and that was barely 20 years after the Liberation of the Concentration Camps. I've seen the same nazi graffitti drawn on Synagogue doors, gravestones in Jewish cemeteries, bridges over highways...and easily dismissed it as stupidity.
But stuff that is horrifyingly violent, true message crimes...I dunno. I'm still listening. This one is not as easy for me as others here.