| sapphi_snake said: I don't understand this... Attacking someone to steal their money isn't hate crime (and the motivation isn't hate). Attacking someone because they're part of a racial minority or because they're not heterosexual etc. is a hate crime (the motivation being hate and prejudice). Hate crimes (real ones) are generally situations when a racist/homophobe targets random people based on their race/sexual orientation (thus your argument that it's hatred between persons, and not groups doesn't stand). Such a person is more dangerous that you're avarege criminal, who kills someone to steal their money (for example), because he targets individuals based on their race/sexual orientation, and will continue to terrorise such groups (the same way someone who premeditates a murder is considered more dangerous that someone who spontaneously decided to kill , or more dangerous than someone who commits a crime of passion). |
You make a good distinction, though the motivation in the first crime is not analogous.
Suppose you attack a person becauuse he hurt your mother's feelings, or because he is a fan of another sports team, or any othe rnumber of reasons not related to race or creed?
I guess I will need to think on this a while longer; I haven't given hate crime legislation a thought in years
