Hate Crime Laws

[aesmael]

    I used to be opposed to hate crime laws. I thought them unnecessary, because violence and harassment are already crimes.
    I changed my mind after learning of the 'gay panic' defence, in which a person might claim as a legal defence that they thought someone of the same sex was coming on to them, and that idea is so horrible they freaked out and killed the other person.
    With hate crime laws in place it is no longer allowed to use such claims as a defence in court, even if the jury would buy it.
    At least, that is how I understand it and the reason I now support such laws.

Comments

[lost-angelwings.livejournal.com]

It is also b/c hate crimes are regular crimes with the added thing that the "motive" is directed at WHAT somebody is, not WHO they are. :\ The idea is that the crime isn't directed at you as much as a group of ppl who "can't help who they are" (I hate that phrase, it implies that we feel bad for them b/c they aren't like us and can't help it).

Religion falls under this too b/c faith is considered something that is important and core to a person as well (whether or not it should be, is another debate xD)

But hate crime laws are to deter ppl from committing acts against identifiable groups. :\ Like it's different to vandalize a house b/c you're a jerk, than to vandalize a house b/c the ppl there are jewish/gay/trans/black/asian/female/etcetcetc

:\

I used to be against hate crime laws too but now I'm not. :]

ALSO The gay panic defense is bs! >:O

[lost-angelwings.livejournal.com]

Oh! The gay panic defence is like that "religious self defence" defence where somebody claims that they killed somebody else for teaching their friend/loved one/themselves, something contrary to their religion b/c that would make God kill them (it says so in the bible see! XD) and therefore b/c they honestly believe that, it's self defence, b/c they're fighting for their life!

Uh.. huh

[whimsical-esper.livejournal.com]

I don't really know anything about hate crime laws, but as far as I understand, they don't make anything new illegal, they just make the punishment worse if you target X person for Y crime simply because X is Z (gay, black, jewish, whatever). Although they do (fortunately) seem to have that effect of nullifying that horrible gay panic defense.

In the past I did not oppose such laws, but I didn't really go out of my way to support them either?

~S

[flynnacatri.livejournal.com]

I think it also addresses the (alleged) reason for the attack in the first place...

"oh lets break that window" AND "I don't like them lets do something to them"

[aesmael.livejournal.com]

I considered adding the religion tag because it is and should be covered by hate crimes too, but I worried people would think I was blaming religion for hate crimes.

[jessie-c.livejournal.com]

You wouldn't be wrong in some cases.