Let's say there's a black National Guardsman home from Iraq. The night before he's supposed to ship back out, he's at dinner with his wife...who's white. Three white men assault him after taunting him regarding his interracial relationship.

Is this a hate crime? Should it be treated as such? Should this be more heavily-reported?

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What have you done for your people today?

Hate crimes are the very first examples of thought policing. It is not enough that somone be prosecuted for assault, but we must give him more time in jail because of what he was thinking or feeling at the time of the assault. Watch out. Good intentions can be disasterous.

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lambaste me not

not a hate crime, just a crime, and should be treated as such.

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I'll get nicer when you get smarter.

I used to support Hate Crime legislation actually.

Then it occurred to me that I wasnt really supporting Hate Crime laws per se...I just wanted to see tougher penalties on existing crimes. Hate crime legislation was a means of circumventing the existing system.

Now I simply support more strict penalties in general. Hate Crime specific laws are a waste of time. If you assault someone, it doesnt matter if it was racially motivated. It should still be punished severely...even if there is no racism involved at all. All assaults are hate crimes technically. All murders are hate crimes technically.

Eh. I thought "No, this isn't a hate crime. No reason to report on it." would suffice for that.

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What have you done for your people today?

a soldier, without reference to color.

Catz

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I'll get nicer when you get smarter.

If someone is sick enough to assault someone in a public area like that, it goes without saying that they were acting in hate to begin with. Is it a hate crime? Yes, but so are a lot of things that aren't defined as hate crimes.

Conversely, if a black person attacked a white person, do you really think that would ever be considered a hate crime? I highly doubt it. And frankly, I don't think it should be. I work with kids with behavioral problems, and I have been attacked by some (or they attempted to attack me) of them simply because I am white. If these kids are so hateful, I know there are plenty of others like them out there in the real world. So it goes both ways, and it should be treated equally, as a crime against another person (but not a "hate crime").

"not a hate crime, just a crime, and should be treated as such."

True. A crime is a crime.

But if it has racism in it, it will escalate to a higher level. I myself do believe that it should become a national thing. I hate racism in every way. Anything that continues to set people apart because of how they are born will be wrong. I do not treat anyone different then someone else unless it comes from a past experience of that person. But that is nothing about his/her race or gender.

And who is the (*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*) who voted that he deserved it for dating a white woman?

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Do not believe out of fear, or for the fact you grew up in a religon. Believe what your heart tells you is right.
-C. Payette

It is reasonable to assume that "hate crimes" were created as a special clause to reduce the amount of KKK group murders such as hangings etc. Unfortunately now it is used as way to control thoughts. It is used as a deterent to crimes in which someone is motivated by hate. While this may appear to be a good cause, unfortunately it is not aligned with democracy itself. While you and I may disapprove of racial hatred, it is nevertheless not our right to force that opinion on other people. Therefore it is more reasonable for the judicial system to focus on the crime itself and to disregard the racial motivations behind the crime. Assault is assault. It is not the judicial system's business as to whether an assault is due to hatred, greed, boredom etc. Justice is meant to be blind to that.

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lambaste me not

All violent crimes, for the most part, are "hate" crimes, in a sense. This was a race-related assault, but it really isn't much different from any other assault.

Catz

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I'll get nicer when you get smarter.