Reply #230: My $0.02... [View All]

[amjsjc]

Hate crime legislation was a necessary evil-- it was only passed into existence because in the 1960s white juries in the south refused to convict whites of murdering blacks. It was necessary for the Federal government to step in and move such trials out of the south where they could be fairly heard. That said hate crimes legislation should be done away with once it is no longer absolutely necessary to ensure that those individuals who prey on minorities can recieve a fair trial (and I'd like to think that we've reached that point, though I'm be open to debate on the subject...) Anyway, hate crimes laws are troubling in my mind for the following reasons:

1) From a strictly legal standpoint they're unnecessary: If a klansman goes out and lynches a black man then he's guilty of murder and can be tried accordingly.

2) They punish someone for his thoughts in addition to his actions: It's bizzare for society to say that going out and horribly murdering your wife to collect insurance money is somehow better than going out and horribly murdering someone because he's black. All premediated murders should (IMHO) be deemed equally objectionable. To do otherwise is to punish someone not for murdering someone else, but rather for what he thinks about that person-- and any law that punishes pure thought (no matter how vile it may be) should be anathema to a free society.

3) It does nothing to protect minorities: From a legal standpoint minorities are already protected by existing laws. It is highly unlikely that a klansman who was not deterred by a murder law would be deterred by a hate crimes law. Simply put, those who commit hate crimes already face the wrath of the criminal justice system: In the Texas James Byrd dragging case (if that isn't the name please correct me) the three assailants were tried under Texas' normal murder statute; two of them were sentenced to death, while the third was sentenced to 40 years in prision (the longest sentence a Texas court can hand out). Similarly Matthew Shepard's murderers were spared death only because of the personal appeal of Matthew's father.

4) It weakens the principal that you can only be tried once for a particular crime.

Anyway, that's my take on the subject.