News Sep 28, 2011 at 4:00 am

Why More Reports of Bias Crimes May Be a Good Thing

Comments

1
I'm inclined to agree that there isn't an increase in the actual crimes, just an increase in the reporting of them, the courage of the victims is basically on the rise. This is a good thing, so the increase in the number of crimes prosecuted as hate is a good sign that people are speaking out more as well as better treatment by the police. But you do have to be careful not to go overboard with it and create witch-hunt style prosecutions, stooping to the level of the haters is just not a good thing.
2
@1: You let me know when "politically correct" rhetoric gets to the McCarthyan levels that Tea Partiers claim it is at today.
3
@1

Too late.

Absolutely you charge someone who assaults another. With assault. You charge someone who murders another. With murder. You use statemements like 'faggot' or 'nigger' made by he accused as a means to establish motive or make your point with a jury as a prosecutor, and you should.

But gay citizens, black citizens, women citizens, citizens whose families came here from Iran all share one thing. They are citizens who have no more right not to be offended than I do as a white male citizen. By establishing 'hate crimes' we decide that whatever the designated protected classes are have a citizenship held at more worth than others. A crime commited against such a citizen isn't held at the level one committed against another is, and that's a bad thing. For the same reason that gay citizens or black citizens deserve the full protection of the law they do not deserve more protection from the law.

You don't have to be a 'Tea Partier' to respect these notions of basic justice.
4
@3: If a person of color throws a brick at you and calls you a cracker, they will most likely be charged with a hate crime.
How many times do I have to explain this to you, you candy-ass roody-poo? Hate crime laws do NOT give extra protections to any groups; rather, they create a protected category.
5
@4

Hate crimes do not give extra protection to any groups, they create a protected category? I think you're making a difference without a distinction.

You can claim that all you like. The fact is that no white person will EVER be the victim of a 'hate' crime. No person will ever stand trial for hating a white middle aged protestant and voicing that hate while mugging him.

Prosecute for the actual crime and leave the emotions out of it if justice is the goal. Otherwise drop the pretense that you liberals care about due process or justice.
6
@5: "The fact is that no white person will EVER be the victim of a 'hate' crime. No person will ever stand trial for hating a white middle aged protestant and voicing that hate while mugging him."
You want to bet?
According to the FBI, there were 545 recorded incidents of anti-white hate crime in 2009. There were also 21 anti-heterosexual hate crime incidents that year. Clearly, pretty much everyone stands to benefit from hate crime legislation.
Do you even think about the stuff you say?
7
@3 But there is another element that the article points out, the increase in the reporting has also tightened the required proof of it being a hate crime, so at least someone is looking to prevent it from becoming a witch-hunt style law. There are always drawbacks to everything, as well as benefits. The trick is to weigh the two and find a point in which they balance out best. The best thing that hate crime laws have done, as I pointed out, was to increase the courage of victims to com forward, meaning that more crimes are being prosecuted as a whole.
8
Fuck the Thought Police.... Is this fucking behind the iron curtain???? Fuck off you sissy motherfuckers and ragheads all alike!
9
@ 3, 5 - Ahmed Mohamed and Jonathan Baquiring were both charged with and pleaded guilty to malicious harassment and first degree robbery for attacking a white teenager.

http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattle911/201…

http://www.seattlepi.com/default/article…

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