How can they know it's discriminatory unless they, themselves, are being discriminatory? Isn't "justice" and "law enforcement" supposed to be non-discriminatory? Isn't justice supposed to be blind?
Are you saying that it has been "blind" in the past? Non-discriminatory? Do you think the police officers who beat
Rodney King were being 'non-discriminatory'? How about their initial trial, where they were acquitted? Do you think that was discriminatory?
Do you even know the history of your own hate crime laws? I am willing to bet that you do not. Do you even know what your hate crime laws are about? Again, I am willing to bet that you do not.
I think inciting acts of violence against anyone, whoever they are, should be illegal.
And it is. Do you know why or how it is illegal? Your hate crime laws ensure that it is illegal for everyone. It covers what your local laws does not cover or fail to cover.
And since justice is supposed to be blind, it shouldn't matter what either party's genetic makeup is or what their religion is, etc. See? No hate crime involved at all ...just plain ol' illegal incitement to violence.
Justice is supposed to be blind. Law enforcement officers should not dismiss crimes against those they feel bigoted towards, but they do. Did you know, for example, that the man who taped the King beating video had origionally gone to the police, who dismissed it and it was then that he went to the media with it because the police refused to do anything about it? And you think justice is blind? How about the Jim Crow laws? Was that "blind"? Did those laws treat all men, regardless of colour, as being equal?
Did you also know, there was a spike in hate crimes against Muslims after the 9/11 attacks? The sheer level of discrimination and crimes committed against them as a whole in the US rose dramatically..?
Hate crime laws cover what local laws do not cover. Many States in the US offer no legal protection to homosexuals or homeless people (as one example) against 'hate crimes'. The hate crime laws ensure all individuals are protected equally. You think that is discriminatory?
No. And you obviously can't explain it or you wouldn't have resorted to such a dishonest response. Discrimination is wrong, Bells, whether it's used by rednecks in Texas or by the FBI in investigating crimes. Discrimination is discrimination. Got it now?
You're accusing me of being dishonest? You?
Ha!
You made a funny.
Now, please explain to me how you think making it illegal to incite violence or commit against particular individuals because of their race, colour, religion, sex, disability, homelessness, sexuality, etc, is somehow discriminatory? Cite some sources.
Anything aside from your current pathetic responses.
"...protected equally."??? You say that?? ...and yet you're here advocating that the justice department, as well as the courts and juries, use discrimination in order to prove that "hate crimes" have been committed, as well as to use discrimination to provide for a harsher sentence.
Is that what you're actually suggesting, Bells, ...more discrimination, just turned around the other way?
How do the hate crime laws use discrimination to apparently provide a harsher sentence?
Hate crime laws are their own entity. They offer protection to all citizens that your normal criminal codes and laws do not cover.
Do you think it is discriminatory to investigate why two white supremacist guys dragged a black guy behind their truck until he was decapitated? Do you think investigating their motive is discrimination? Why do you think that is discriminatory?
No, Bells. And if you'd read my post you'd see that I made the distinction that "hate crime laws" are discriminatory, not regular ol' laws. But then you knew that, and wanted to use this as another bit of dishonesty, huh?
Ah, you are upset that they don't fit in with other laws? That they sit outside of the 'regular ol' laws'. Maybe if your 'regular ol' laws' provided better protection for all citizens, you would not need hate crime laws. But they do not, hence why hate crime laws were deemed necessary.. since the 1960's by the way.
But "hate crimes" designations are NOT applied equally. In fact, they're so blatantly discriminatory that everyone on Earth should stand up in protest against them.
How are the laws "blatantly discriminatory"?
Bells, if the sentence wouldn't change, then why bother with the motive?
To know the 'why's'. Why did the two white men drag the black man behind their truck until he was decapitated.. Why would two men torture and beat a homosexual man to death.. Why would a man drive a truck full of explosives and park it outside of a federal building..
Motive explains the crime.. I would have thought it was quite self-explanatory.
If the "hate crime" designation is used to influence the jury to find the man guilty, then that's the prosecution using discrimination as a tool to sway the jury to find him guilty when he might have gotten off. So see, it's discriminatory for the prosecutor to use such info. The justice system claims that discrimination is wrong, yet they use it to help convict the suspect??
What in the hell are you on about?
Do you think hate crime laws are used to sway the opinion of the jury? Do you think a prosecutor citing the motive of a criminal's crime is discrimination?
Heh.. That's hilarious..
As for federal authorities stomping all over the local authorities, that bothers me a lot!
Why?
Oh, it's sunk into my skull, Bells. Hate crimes designations are blatantly discriminatory and attempt to divide people into non-equal entities under the law ....which is against the principles of the Constitution.
No. It provides potection for all people and entities, which is supported by your Constitution.
But, Bells, you keep saying that the sentence wouldn't have been greater, but how can you know that? See? You're only fooling yourself, and in doing so, you're proving yourself a bigot and a racist in the worse way!
Okay. Let me explain something to you, which you don't seem to grasp.
Your local (State) criminal codes do not offer protection to all individuals against crimes that are motivated by bigotry. Hate crime laws ensure that protection for everyone. They have existed for a long time. The ammended laws now ensure protection for homosexuals and for homeless people and the disabled (as one example).
So when someone beats or kills a person or incites violence against a person or group because of their race, sex, colour, religion, disability, sexual orientation, etc, they are then prosecuted under the hate crime laws of your country. Do you know why? Because your state laws do not offer protection to
all individuals. For example, in some states, it was not illegal to incite violence against homosexuals. You have stated yourself that you think inciting violence against anyone should be illegal. Hate crime laws now ensure that it is illegal to do so. So, how or why is that discriminatory in your opinion?