Is hate crime legislation just another example of political correctness run amok?

A crime is a crime. But now we have to start categorizing it by race, religion, gender, and sexual preference? And then punishing the offender more based on that classification? Sounds like BS to me.Is hate crime legislation just another example of political correctness run amok?Motive for crime should be brought into court as evidence

not as a separate charge.Is hate crime legislation just another example of political correctness run amok?
A crime becomes a hate crime not because of the classification of the victim, but because of the motivation of the perpetrator.



I think it is necessary because the purpose of a hate crime is to terrorize members of a particular group, to try to make them live in fear just by being a member of that group.



To SMS: Crimes against white victims are also prosecuted. See the links below for details.Is hate crime legislation just another example of political correctness run amok?You need to learn a little more about the law before you leap to the conclusions. A crime is not a crime. English law recognized degrees of crimes with different penalties centuries ago. Whether a suspect is charged with simple assault or aggravated assault depends on intent and degree of harm. Whether a suspect is charged with manslaughter, second degree murder or first degree murder depends on intent. Determining intent is not reading thoughts or prosecuting people for their thoughts by the way. Learn more about the usual murder and assault charges, and you will see where the hate crime statutes fit in. Then, you will be capable of making an informed judgment.
Hate crime laws are akin to a government handout, it is meant to appease certain groups.



Worse, hate crimes can be manipulated to make almost any crime against another person a hate crime, regardless of actual intent. The person just needs to be different.



It creates inequality before the law, as it elevates one victim, above another victim of the same crime.Is hate crime legislation just another example of political correctness run amok?I think its done in good faith, and results in fewer crimes with that kind of motivation. The issue is that it probably exacerbates the idea that we are different, thereby fueling the fundamental problem that we haven't seemed to figure out to correct (i.e., the fact that people are motivated to kill, harm, rob, maim, etc, based on race, religion, gender, orientation.). Gotta win the people's hearts and minds, and this does nothing but lose them further.Is hate crime legislation just another example of political correctness run amok?
Not so much political correctness run amok as it is the infancy stage of a thought police. It matters little if someone is murdered because they didn't have enough money in their purse/wallet at the time they were accosted or if they were murdered simply because of their skin color. In the end an individual has been murdered.



By looking at the murder through the prism of a racial or gender issue, what one is essentially saying is that the value of the life of someone who was murdered due to their race or sexual orientation, etc. is of a greater value than someone who was merely in the wrong place at the wrong time.



To be certain, it is a very very slippery slope when we stark going down these roads with a great many unintended consequences.



You cannot sacrifice the liberties of others without sacrificing your own liberties. The question you have to ask yourself is whether you are content with a thought or speech police regulating something you said or thought and what your motivation was.



**Addition:



What most of the posters herein are failing to recognize is that intent and motivation are two complete and wholly separate things. If you kill someone, the law looks to INTENT to ascertain the degree. Hate crime legislation does not measure intent. What it does attempt to measure is motive. In criminal law, motive is not the means by which we apply a punishment. The purpose of motive is to serve as a means to which we apply the degree of intent (i.e., did the victim know the killer, what was the nature of their relationship, did the victim owe the killer money, etc. etc.)
I think so. My reasoning is that by punishing some crimes and some people more than others denies us of equal protection under the law. How someone felt about the victim plays into their motivations and the degree of seriousness of the crime already. For example, intent to do harm is what would make a homicide jump from manslaughter to murder.



Unfortunately, the way it is being administered today is that if a straight guy mugs a gay guy, it MUST have been because he was gay and not the fact that he had money in his wallet. Had he mugged another straight guy, then this would not have been an issue.



Another disturbing trend that I have seen is that hate crime laws work only one way. If a couple of gay guys rape a little boy until he dies, it is not even looked at as a potential hate crime. If a gang of blacks kidnaps and kills a pair of white kids, it is considered nothing more than a straight forward murder unreated to anyones skin color.



I think hate crimes laws had a good intent; to discourage crime and intimidation related to someones minority status. But I think it has been applied in a way that perverts that intent. lady Justice is not quite blind.Is hate crime legislation just another example of political correctness run amok?
"A crime is a crime" No it isn't. This is the weakest example I ever hear. A crime is a crime depending on intent and what happened. Example I accidently kill someone driving drunk. Manslaughter a few years in jail. I purposfully crash a car into a building with bombs on it. First degree murder with a life sentence in a maximum security prison.
I would tend to agree. I read the other day that the disabled are now asking for specific legislation, claiming they're subject to 'hate-crime' which doesn't get enough attention.

I suppose next in line will be fat people, skinny people, those wearing glasses, the ugly, the extemely stupid, women with moustaches and those with a poor taste in pullovers - all of whom can no doubt plead they are subject to disparaging comments - nowadays defined as 'hate' by the Thought Police - and lawyers in pursuit of fees,
Absolutely...the thought police have arrived. Here's a link for you....children in the UK are being put on a government database "Hate List" as early as 5 years old. As you know, the US tends to follow the lead of the UK. We'll see....



http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-鈥?/a>
I disagree. Yes, crime is crime, but a crime committed strictly out of hatred for a person, or group of people, that you are prejudiced against based on their race/gender/religion/sexual orientation, is especially heinous and deserves additional punishment.
No. A hate crime sends a message that harms other people.



A person who is murdered for theft is a murder.



A person who is murdered for being a member a a particular race puts a whole community into a reasonable fear for their lives.
I think it is more protecting theirselves.... What is there going to be a law passed that also says we have no right to hate Congress either. It wouldnt surprise me. In the mean time we will vote out the 1/3 this year.
What gets me is that "hate" crimes are classified as white people attacking a minority. I have yet to hear it used when the attackers are a minority and the victims are white.
No. It's an example of human decency.



Intentionally harming someone because of WHO THEY ARE is more unethical than any ordinary crime.
Because protecting peoples US Constitutional rights is BS to you now?



I stand for the US Constitution where do you stand friend?
No.Hate crimes are motivated by bias. Intent is a fundamental aspect of criminal law.
all crime done to another human being is hateful
No it is an example of the advancement of civilized society.
Hate crimes is more like organized racism...
You are a racist and you probably hate Obama cuz he da first black one.
It absolutely is BS.
why are you against hate crime laws? Do you have something to hide?