Hate Crimes

Hate crime is not related in any way to gay/lesbianism phenomenon. Crime is crime, and it is always motivated by hate. Don't think this topic should even be on this list in particular.

Maybe a good idea in theory (and that's a pretty weak maybe), but utterly hopeless from a practical perspective.  It's awfully hard to get inside people's heads.  It's far easier to evaluate actions than motive.  I'd just as soon prosecute the action, and not the emotion of the perpetrator.

Glorious idiocy running wild is the sum total of hate crime jurisprudence. It is political correctness carried to the height and ends of the ridiculously sublime. When you commit a crime against someone, you don't LOVE them. That is for certain. These laws are primarily passed at the instigation of the homosexual lobby in order to cement in their privileged status in modern society.

Genghis....very well said. I cannot stand this term. If someone commits a crime against another, they should be punished for it- period!

What is a hate crime, a crime is a crime, is a crime. If a gay man's car is stolen is that a hate crime? If a straight guy gets into a fight about a girl, is that a hate crime? Well yea in a way it is but if a gay guy gets into a fight with a straight guy and looses, is that a hate crime, probably. If I break into your house and steal your TV you are going to hate me for breaking into your house, is that a hate crime. The term hate crime is B.S. Instead of trying to catagorize crime we should be inforcing the law. It does not matter who the victim is or what the reason was they should be punished for their crime and not just because of sexual preference, skin color or creed the punishment should be just as severe.

The term "hate crime" needs to be eliminated from our judicial vocabulary for several reasons. First, as others have clearly stated all crime is a hate crime in a sense. Second, this has been bad law because it has been selectively applied. I have yet to hear of a gay person attacking a straight person or even a black person attacking a white person labeled as a hate crime. Third, and most importantly, this law seeks to increase punishment because of what a person thinks instead of how a person acts. When we start making guesses as to what a person thinks, and then increase the penalty because of those perceived thoughts, we have taken a dangerous step towards embracing the kind of government that ruled Germany during the Second World War. If the current laws were vigorously enforced and soft on crime judges were replaced with judges who seek justice instead of some kind of social utopia, criminals would fear the law regardless of sexuality, religion, or race.

HYPOTHETICAL SITUATION: If numbah gets groped by a gay guy and punches him, who is guilty of a hate crime? I hit him because he made a gay advance. Is it me? Or is it him for making an unwelcome advance at a straight guy? Hmm...

I think in reality, most of us have an intuitive understanding of hate crimes, in the sense of a crime perpetrated against an individual based on their race, sexual orientation, etc. The problems in realizing legislation to deal with the issue are twofold: firstly finding an acceptable standard by which to determine if a crime qualifies as a hate crime and secondly addressing the intrinsic difficulty of assessing the mindset of the person perpetrating the crime. With respect to the second point, I think that it is worth mentioning that many crimes are penalized more heavily depending on the mindset of the individual, such as manslaughter vs. murder in all of its degrees. It it a difficult topic to legislate, but I think it addresses a real problem and it merits the extra effort, criticism and vigilance to see that it is implemented correctly. I do not think we should throw the baby out with the bathwater.

If a gay fella tryed hitting on me and took it to far I might have a serious problem. thats what they have gay bars for.

What crime isn't a hate crime? Is there a love crime? I don't see how one life is worth more in the eyes of the law. Bad concept that portrays gays as needing special attention. . .they deserve more respect than that.

Bad idea. There are already laws on the book to cover anything that would qualify as a hate crime, such as murder, torture, beatings.... It has the potential to take us down that long and winding road of no return.

i am with kolby 100 percent.

I have trouble with the term Hate Crime. I think all violent crimes should be treated the same way. I don't think the law should discriminate between a gay person and a seven eleven clerk who got in the way of a robbery.

I strongly disagree with homesexuality, but that does not give me, or those who agree with my stance on homesexuality, the right to violate another person's rights.

I don't think this is just a gay issue, this is something that affects everyone - if this item had been labelled as 'gay bashing' then yes, it would be a gay issue. 'Hate crime' is too generalised.

kolby, you certainly have a way of pulling on the heart strings and attempting to personalize the drama. But legislation should be originated on a thoughtful basis, not on an emotional basis, otherwise, laws would not survive even a low level judicial review, and be overturned on appeal more frequently. The legislative process is cumbersome and deliberative in this country for just that reason, that all viewpoints might be considered in the drafting of a bill. When legislators put certain hot issue bills on the fast track we generally wind up with emotional legislation subject to interpretation by the judiciary and conflicting messages are sent to the public, like what constitutes a hate crime. It is still being defined even though the legislation is in place. Are gay guys the only victims of hate crimes?

As far as I'm concerned, we should hate ALL crime. It's insane to try to give special protection to certain favored groups. I've been a crime victim at least half a dozen times. I couldn't care less whether the crooks liked me or not. I just wanted them to be brought to justice.

This is what I regard as a very important issue... however, I dont think hate crimes legislation would do one bit of good. Crime is crime. Now, I am not a homosexual, nor am I supporter of the practice, but I was offended when I heard about the Matthew Shepherd story. Offended that someone would be stupid enough to kill a gay kid because they hate his orientation. Obviously, the two didn't get much attention when they were kids.

I often wonder how many people would change their views on this particular debate and/or topic if it was their child that was tied up on a fence, in a windy, cold, flat field in southern Wyoming after being beaten repeatedly by the butt of a gun by two neanderthals who didn't like him simply because he was gay? And then after he died like several days later, an anti-gay activist group picketted your child's funeral with signs that read fags should burn in hell, and so on and so on....this isn't hate????

It's not the TARGET of the crime that defines it as a hate crime, it is the MOTIVE. You who think hate crimes are no different from any others: how would you have punished the perpetrators of Kristallnacht? for misdemeanor vandalism? For juvenile delinquency? The same people who broke windows that night, within seven years had murdered over six million Jews. Do you seriously think that the only relevant, and significant charge against them that night in November 1938 would have been VANDALISM?

All crimes are hate crimes and should be punished the same way. I refuse to be singled out as different or special by anyone. If you commit a criminal offense against me and one of my younger brothers should you be punished more severely for harming me than for harming him just because I'm gay and he isn't? No, I don't buy that. The sentencing phase of all trials allows for the opportunity to consider both motivating and mitigating factors. No special laws are required.

Saying that all crimes are wrong, or all crimes involve hate and so forth so therefore all crimes should be punished the same is a misconpetion and a mischaracterization of our legal system. In every violent crime the punishment is given out if the person is guilty, but then how do we determine the sentencing? Under the logic of punish the ends regardless of the means then one should expect to see that first degree murder and manslaughter carry equivalent punishments; after all both end in a death and if we don't care what the mindset of the killer was then they are equivalent acts deserving equivalent punishment. The fact, however, is that this is not the case. We punish people first if they commit a crime, but we determine the sentencing based on their reasons, mindset, and planning that went into committing it. Recognizing hate crimes is not a bizarre step outside our standard legal practice, rather it is a logic continuation of legal practices in western culture since time immemori... Read more

This is to BIGBABY..and many others...i think hate crimes are a GAAY issue ...But do you know the statistics?...about ONE-THIRD of gay and lesbien are victims of hate crimes... please think before you try to PROTEST..AND GET YOU FACTS STRAIGHT!....Luv Jess

I agree with Solenoid here. When you commit murder, that is a hate crime. Murder is hate. We should work on strengthening the punishments for all murder, not creating special laws for different groups.

The very idea of having Hate Crime legislation is absolutely ridiculous. A crime is a crime, and violence is violence. Do we need legal precedents that say This requires 5 years in prison UNLESS it is done to a minority or a homosexual, then it's 10 years, etc. And as Predisent X-D said, it's impossible to define or gauge anyway.

This is impossible to define anyway. Beating the living hell out of someone, or murdering another person... explain how one form of violence is more or less hateful than another? Prosecute ALL violent offenders to the full extent of the law.

I agree with BIGBABY, a lot of people are going to be intolerant about this issue, and there's nothing that anyone can do to stop them.

Hate crimes are definetely a gay issue. I remember the Matthew Shepard story a while back. So far nobody has been giving me any kind of trouble at all with the fact that I'm gay. Im sure this happens to almost all gay people during thier life, but life's life. There's no stopping hate crimes.