is this a hate crime?

Question

If I hate a type of people, (blacks, jews, fat chicks), and those people know...and they beat me up...is that a hate crime?

Answer 1

No.

A hate crime really has nothing to do with hatred -- nor is it a crime by itself -- it is a sentence enhancement to some other underlying crime -- and it applies only if you commit some other underlying crime in a particular way.

Since you did not commit any crime -- let alone for the particular reasons that allow the sentence enhancement to that crime -- hate crime statutes don't apply.

Specifically, if you are attacked because of something you do -- or because of something about you as an individual -- then hate crime legislation would never apply. That's why the comments that "all crimes are based on hatred" entirely misses the point of the legislation.

Hate crime enhancements only apply if the sole reason for you being attacked was because of your membership in a particular protected group -- that's the point -- because the attacker was attempting and intending to attack the entire group, not just one individual -- and that more culpable mental state is what allows for the sentence enhancement.