A Fake 'Hate Crime'

LaShawn Barber discusses a fake 'hate crime' perpetrated by a homosexual teenager in California.  This is obviously an troubled individual who needs guidance and assistance, but what does it say about the hate crime/hate speech laws that someone would seek to use them to gain attention in this manner?

In January I addressed the issue of hate crimes and hate speech, and the point of that discussion was twofold.  Firstly, the laws are designed to increase penalties in crimes against only certain members of society, and by definition treat the same crime differently if you're not a member of one of the protected groups.  Thus some members of society have crimes against them treated with more urgency and severity than other members.  That is not "equal treatment under the law."

Second, having a prohibited motivation to a crime criminalizes the motivation itself; it criminalizes thought.  And it diminishes the nature of the crime itself.  Thus there are grades of murder, so killing someone is bad, but to really offend society you kill them because they're gay.  I, for one, don't see the point.  They're both reprehensible, and should be punished equally.  The killing is the problem, not the motivation.

Ms. Barber points to one of her earlier posts on the topic.

Is wife-beating a hate crime? Is raping a woman a hate crime? What about raping a black woman? Is it a hate crime only if you’re doing it because she’s black? Is the crime qualitatively worse because you hate blacks, women or both?

She adds a helpful distinction for those who confuse the question of premeditation with motivation:

The mental state of a perpetrator is an important element in a crime like attempted murder, but the focus is on whether he planned or intended to kill the victim, not what he thinks or feels about the victim. Our “feelings” or opinions about people are not subject to penalty.

I would say "should not be subject to penalty," but in many instances they are.  Michelle Malkin is also on the topic.

Comments

[Johnny the Horse]

Good post, and it's probably not the time to bring it up, but I thought the pellet with the poison was in the flagon with the dragon.

[Giacomo]

Actually, the flagon with the dragon came along later, when the chalice from the palace got the pellet with the poison. The flagon with the dragon had the brew that is true.