Religion topped race as motive in 2007 hate crimes

[ZombieHorde]

by Sebastian Montes

The number of hateful acts identified by police dropped roughly 20 percent last year, but the county’s hate crimes coordinator said that some immigrant communities are not reporting crimes that would be considered hateful.

Montgomery County Police identified 42 hate crimes and incidents in 2007 with another ‘‘six or seven” acts determined inconclusive, said Dave Baker, hate crimes coordinator for county police.

Though that number is down from the recent average of roughly 55 per year, Baker cautioned against being overly encouraged.

‘‘I don’t think it’s a trend, and I don’t think it’s a significant deviation from the previous three to five years,” he said.

Much of his hesitation is because many more hate crimes are going unreported as some immigrant communities are not reporting crimes to police out of fear of deportation.

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More at link -
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=post&forum=132

Don't hate crime laws = thought crime laws?

[pscot]

1. Welcome to the 17th century

n/t

[ZombieHorde]

2. I think that your watch is a little slow. nt

[readmoreoften]

3. And hate crimes against LGBT people are completely underreported, not given hate crime status,

and often not self-reported to the police for fear of further abuse.

I'll post a private message that a DUer asked me to turn into an OP:

As far as hate crime stuff goes, believe it or not I used to be against it too--or more undecided. But the reality is motive is always considered an aggravating factor in a crime. For example, we put people away for much longer for premeditated murder than manslaughter. Both victims are just as dead. in fact, someone who died of manslaughter may have even suffered a slow, agonizing death while the murdered may have just overdosed someone on sleeping pills.

A hate crime is qualitatively different because the goal is to terrorize a population. If someone murdered their wife in my town and wrote MY WIFE WAS A BITCH over her body in blood, I'd think the guy was a bloodthirsty nutcase. If someone (or worse, a group of people) murdered a lesbian in my town and wrote THIS IS WHAT ALL LESBIANS DESERVE, my friends and I would be afraid to leave our houses to go to work. It is a crime against an entire community. Basically, it's terrorism. Hate crimes are currently prosecuted for race, gender, and religion. So if I punched a Christian, it'd be a hate crime--a federal offense. If he punched me, it'd be a local crime and the cops could laugh it off if they wanted to.

If a group of women kill a man because they hate men it's a hate crime. If a gang of gays in Provincetown kill a straight person to send a message, it's a hate crime. If a gang of Blacks or Latinos kill a white person, it's a hate crime. If a gang of Jews lynch a Christian, it's a hate crime. It's designed to stop a certain type of partisan crime not a measure to protect minorities.

I used to be iffy about it because I thought that if the problem was that small hick towns didn't prosecute crimes against gays, then we needed to change those towns. Now I realize that that is highly impractical and idealist. Also, a good way to change such towns is to make sure kids grow up never hearing their parents flap their hands at lynchings or gaybashings as if they were inevitable. Hate crimes laws can make that happen.

[ZombieHorde]

4. Fantastic post.

And hate crimes against LGBT people are completely underreported, not given hate crime status, and often not self-reported to the police for fear of further abuse.

This is truly a dark and sad situation.

But the reality is motive is always considered an aggravating factor in a crime. For example, we put people away for much longer for premeditated murder than manslaughter. Both victims are just as dead. in fact, someone who died of manslaughter may have even suffered a slow, agonizing death while the murdered may have just overdosed someone on sleeping pills.

Though this is true, I do not think that it relates to hate crimes in any way. If I kill someone while driving drunk, it is manslaughter. The killings are accidental, hate killings are not.

A hate crime is qualitatively different because the goal is to terrorize a population. Snip violent murder scene. It is a crime against an entire community.

I agree that such crimes can be devastating for a community. But I also believe that if a person kills someone for the contents of their wallet, everyone in that neighborhood is equally terrorized. I live in a small town, such murders are a big deal here.

It's designed to stop a certain type of partisan crime not a measure to protect minorities.
and
Also, a good way to change such towns is to make sure kids grow up never hearing their parents flap their hands at lynchings or gaybashings as if they were inevitable. Hate crimes laws can make that happen.

I don't think that hate crime laws stop anything because I don't think that murders and their ilk really think about it. It is similar to the death penalty in this regard. It seems like most criminals don't think that they will get caught, even though so many do.

Basically, it's terrorism.

I don't like terrorism laws for similar reasons. It is already illegal to intentionally blow up a bunch of people (unless you are the government), their motivation should not matter in the sentencing.