... based on a person being homeless can qualify as a hate crime. What is your opinion?
2007-02-23 04:35:07 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Politics & Government ➔ Law & Ethics
There is a phenomonon on the rise these days with attacks on homeless people. Some people have it in their head that homeless people are less than human somehow. If someone goes into a neighborhood and finds a homeless person and commits a crime against that person based soley on the fact that the victim was homeless, then I agree there should be extra penalties. The criminal in this case has a particular hatred that cannot be tolerated in society.
What I do not agree with is prosecutors abusing this law. Lets say that you have been involved in a crime against a person who happens to be homeless. Just about any prosecutor will try to use this law to get the sentence longer, even if your crime was not a hate crime. It just happened to be against a homeless person.
I would be in support of this law if it came with careful definitions of how to classify the crime as a hate crime. Such as showing that the criminal had planned the attack or had some pre-planning of an attack or had declared intentions to attack a homeless person, that there were no other factors that may have caused the crime, and that the criminal knew the person was homeless. These are just a few stipulations that I would like to see on a law like this. There has to be protection against a law like this being abused by the police and prosecutors.
2007-02-23 04:47:10 · answer #1 · answered by A.Mercer 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm sorry, but doesn't the law state that 'crimes against a person who is homeless' is a 'hate crime'? The way you 'stated it' the 'message' could be reversed ... that a crime 'done you' a person who is homeless' can be a 'hate crime' ... but if that was the way the law was written, it would be okay for a person who has a home to commit a crime against a homeless person (it would still be a 'crime' but would not be subject to the 'greater penalty' assigned to 'hate crimes'), but it would be a 'hate crime' if a homeless person committed a crime against a person who has a home. You probably need to go 'get a copy' of the 'actual law as it is written' and you should 'see' that I am right ... because hating someone enough to commit a crime against them simply because they are 'homeless' is as WRONG as it is to commit a crime against a Black, or a Muslim, or a Jew, or a Woman ...
2007-02-23 12:48:01 · answer #2 · answered by Kris L 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
So you're saying a person who kills a homeless person can get an aggravating factor of "hate crime" added to his sentence? If that's the case, I'm all for it. I don't like homeless people, and I think that for the most part people who are homeless can do something about it, but that doesn't give me the right to kill them or harm them in any way. So sure, tack it on if it is a hate crime.
2007-02-23 12:41:42 · answer #3 · answered by sarge927 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I guess this might make sense. If you are attacking a homeless person just because they are homeless then that should be dubbed a hate crime.
2007-02-23 12:43:16 · answer #4 · answered by Ray IV 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think hate-crimes legislation is a crock, until they come up with some category of love-crimes to balance it out.
All crime is based on hate...
2007-02-23 12:44:09 · answer #5 · answered by littleman77y 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋