hate crime legislation?

[jrtom]

This is an entirely serious question, and I'd appreciate some responses.

I don't understand the reason why the category 'hate crime' exists as a legal term. I'm fully in favor of anti-discrimination laws, and I believe that people get beaten up, or worse, for being (say) gay on an unfortunately regular basis.

What I don't understand is why such crimes cannot be effectively addressed under existing statutes. Why does it matter, in law, what reason someone has (or asserts) for beating the mortal crap out of someone else?

I mean, I can understand taking the motivation into account in terms of the kind of sentence that you give--community service for an appropriate support organization or charity might be especially appropriate. But I really don't see why differences in motivation define different crimes.

If anyone here can provide some cogent arguments for why hate crime legislation needs to exist, I'd really like to hear them; I'm prepared to believe that there's something I'm missing.

Comments

[ewin.livejournal.com]

Hate crime legislation is bandaid law. It comforts the worst fears of the masses without directly addressing the problem it claims to address. The majority of laws in this country are just that type of law.

But to say that it doesn't do what it says it does, is not the same thing as saying that it's useless. You may wish for people to be universally enlightened and able to look past the narrow confines of their own existence and what directly affects them, but the people who live like that form the ground upon which the nation sits (as Jimmy Stewart might say, they do most of the breathing and the working and the living and the dying around here), and it's more important that a bandaid be applied to their worries in order to keep them functioning than it is to go making sweeping structural changes to the legal system that could disrupt everything we're so carefully balanced on. (These bandaids are generally applied by people just as convinced of their illusory effectiveness, so I don't really think it's an issue of intellectual elitism.) We tend to vilify the placebo effect without truly understanding what's at stake when we decide to do without it.

I don't like the way that bandaid laws overcomplicate the legal system, but I don't have any better ideas, either. Most of the "better ideas" I hear to improve the current maze of legal procedure are either unworkable, disastrous, or hopelessly nihilistic. In the meantime, implementing the legal term "hate crime" has done one very significant thing: it's caused enough talk to make it a well-known term. It's an ugly term for an ugly act, and I believe that has a gradual cultural effect over time.

[jrtom.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

The placebo effect is an interesting point. (For a related article, you might check out one by Bruce Schneier on security theater (http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2007/01/in_praise_of_se.html).)

The point about introducing the term into the discourse is also interesting. In this case I wonder about whether there are undesirable side effects (perceived marginalization of other crimes, which are just as despicable) but arguably it's always a balancing act.

I do wonder, though...let's suppose that we took, say, 10% of the money and manpower that we have poured into Iraq and instead put this energy into enforcement of existing statutes that cover these same crimes. Clearly we believe that we can in some sense afford Iraq...and if law enforcement and the legal system were given the support it needed to deal with these issues (and were smacked down hard when it wilfully ignored them), that might result in a similar effect, at least in terms of prosecutable activity, if not attitudes.

Again, though, thanks. (Mmmm, chewy.)

10%

[fdmts.livejournal.com]

Yeah, 10%.

That would be, what, like, 8 billion a year?

Okay, pick 10 projects at that scale. Seriously. It's late and I'm bitter.

1. Vaccinate all kids everywhere, worldwide. For what? Everything. It's in the noise.
2. Universal health care.
3. Universal health care.
4. Universal health care. (feel free to move items off the bottom if we need more).
5. 800,000 college scholarships. $10k each.
6. Each state gets 160 million to spend on "core issues"
7. 80,000 small business loans. $100k each.
8. $8 billion for HIV research. Let's end this shit.
9. $8 billion into Sustainable energy.
10. $8 billion into doctors without borders. You want to see civilization take off in the developing world? Do this. You ain't seen nothin' yet.

[nancymcc.livejournal.com]

Is this where I get to tell you that we're buddies with said security expert? We stayed with Bruce and Karen in France (they rented a place for 3 months and we visited for a few days) in 04.

Forgive my name dropping. I get to do it so rarely.

[jrtom.livejournal.com]

Yes, I think it is where you get to tell me that. Very cool! :) Should I ever need a personal introduction, I'll let you know... ;)