When is a crime not a hate crime?

Question

I have heard people who are against anti-hate crime legislation argue that ALL crimes are hate crimes. I disagree. After all, there are PLENTY of people who commit crimes that aren't necessarily motivated by hate. For example, a crack addict who robs a convenience store and kills the clerk just to feed his addiction isn't committing a hate crime. After all, the murder of the clerk wasn't motivated by hatred, but by fear and profit. Not only that, but hit men don't commit hate crimes, because the murders they commit are motivated by profit, not hate. Don't you think there's a huge difference between these instances and, say, murdering someone on the basis of sexual orientation, race, and religion?

bebe: It's better to have a bleeding heart than no heart at all!:)

Answer 1

I think people in a comfortable station in life (that is, the white male, in most cases) can fall into an emotional trap where they see hate crime legislation not in its stated purpose, that is, to dissuade the habits of prejudice and its criminal manifestation, but as an imagined threat on their way of life, as some sort of attack on their comfortable station in life.

When work is being done to improve the station of life for groups of people whose station in life is currently sub-par, like for African Americans or the LGBT community, people are prone to try to insert themselves into that equation, where it often doesn't fit. So helping an African American community is implicitly not helping the white community, and it takes a small but irrational leap for a nitwit to think that not helping the white community is harming the white community.

Those that oppose hate crimes or affirmative action will often misstate its purpose: to solve a sociological problem. They will often oppose it and would rather pretend that the sociological problems do not exist so long as they in their comfortable station in life is even in the slightest step, imaginary or not, improved.

People will naively think that hate crime legislation and affirmative action are not promoting the ideals of equality, if those in a comfortable station in life do not get the same benefits, but will neglect to explain that, without these tools, equality and equal opportunity are further decreased, and no better solution has yet been offered.

Answer 2

BUT, how do you prove its a hate crime????

Lets say the same crackhead, robs and beats a gay man, for the same reason (for profit), some might call this a hate crime, but in reality its not.

Hate crime legislation puits more of a value on Minorities lives than everyone else. Its like telling someone that because their mother was murdered for money doesnt matter as much as another persons son being murdered because he was gay.

How can you put more of a value - to me crime is crime and all crime should be punished to the full extent of the law!

Answer 3

Hate crime legislation is more about political maneuvering than about law enforcement. It's a way to court a group of potential voters by telling them they are victims and that when any crime befalls them, there will be excessive sentencing upon a finding of guilt.

But what are Hate crimes really, but simply "thought" crimes. Commit a violent crime while being known to espouse unpopular views, and you'll get a few extra years tagged on for having your "unpopular views".

Hate "Thought" Crime legislation is a travesty and flies in the face of the First Amendment. We may criminalize actions, but we should never criminalize unpopular thinking. Bad enough the Europeans do that.

Answer 4

serious crime is a serious offense. I dont believe we need to differentiate - the punishment should fit the deed.
Kill someone because they are Gay or kill someone because you are robbing their store - same punishment.
Beat someone because they are black / beat someone because you feel like it - same punishment

I believe the hate crime ruling was necessary before because we had to protect those folks that were being dragged by cars, tied to fences etc. I think people are more acceptable of differences in this country today and therefore would see it as a crime that is punishable depending on the act and not who it was acted on. just my two pennies.
I guess in other words, I supported the hate crime laws but I dont see the difference between a crack addict killing someone to get drugs and someone going into a conv. store and killing someone because they are of a different race/sex. orientation. they still murdered and should be sent away for the rest of their life. and smoking crack is against the law so there are two offenses there in my opinion. Send him to rehab in prison where he will live out the rest of his life.

Answer 5

I can tell you when a crime is not a hate crime. When a crime is committed against a strait white male is when you wont hear the phrase "hate crime" in the headlines. I think it is bunch politically correct B.S. This goes along the same lines as this so called "racial profiling". If 90% of the people blowing thing up are wearing a diaper on their head. Would'nt it make sense to pay closer attention to these type of people.Same thing goes with the drugs and the shooting. quit your wining.

Answer 6

A hate crime is motivated by bigotry...

for instance... I rob 10 convenience stores and kill ten clerks... All of them were East Indian decent... It would appear that I targeted their specific race. That's a hate crime.

If I rob 10 convenient stores and kill ten clerks and they were ethnically diverse... It would appear that my robbery wasn't motivated by my hatred of any specific class/race of people...I just robbed because I wanted money..

The question is.... Is one worse than the other ?

Morally speaking, they are both the same.

Technically speaking, hate crimes are worse... because hate crimes have the potential to create many more victims within the community, by instilling fear in a specific class or race of people... Thus the added punishment.

The motivation for any crime is always a factor during jury deliberations and sentencing.

Answer 7

just because a white person commits a crime on a black person doesn't mean that it is a hate crime. But if that crime was committed for the SOLE reason of belonging to a race or gender, etc...than it is. We had no problem making Hussein out to be a bad guy because of GENOCIDE on his people.

Answer 8

A 'hate crime' is an further cost it incredibly is utilized to situations the place the clarification exchange into hatred in direction of a collection that the sufferer exchange into aside of. the element in the back of it incredibly is to justify a greater durable sentence, as those absolutely everyone seems to be statistically greater probable to re-offend while they're launched. If somebody burned your place down because of the fact which you're black, they're much less probable to easily give up there than in the event that they only burned down Bob's domicile down the line because of the fact they disliked him. That being pronounced, I agree that "hate crimes" have become fairly overused as a cost while there's no evidence that the crime exchange into dedicated out of hate. a stable occasion of this exchange into the Rutger's bullying case that alter into contained in the information presently. mutually as what the sufferer's roommate did exchange into ill and incorrect, there exchange into no sparkling evidence that it exchange into carried out because of the fact he fairly hated gay human beings, yet he exchange into nevertheless convicted on the detest crime cost.

Answer 9

When a murder or assault is committed against a white or straight person that's when.

We are all supposed to be equal.

Hate crime statutes are nothing but writing discrimination into law.

The only way to stop discrimination is to stop discriminating against people on the law books.

Answer 10

I absolutely agree with you.

An additional problem with hate crimes is that they can incite retalitory behaviors by the targeted group. These crimes must be handled swiftly and with little tolerance for the perpetrators, as it is not just the individual victim who was attacked, but an entire group of people.

Answer 11

So let's say my 16 year old nephew gets murdered for his expensive sneakers, because he's a white heterosexual it's treated differently and criminal gets 20 years and out in 12 for good behavior but if my nephew was black the murderer gets 30 years with no parole. And this seems fair to you?