h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Thanks for the thoughtful reply, Mostly Harmless. I agree that you should never call a crime a "hate crime" merely because the victim is black, or gay, or Jewish and the criminal is not.

Hate crimes are written so that the motivation for the crime must be known. That is, the criminal must admit in court or must have stated before or during the crime that he committed the crime based on the person's color, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, or religion. If the motivation for the crime was something else, then you can't use the "hate crimes" statute.

There have been cases where the prosecutors tried to abuse a hate crimes law to increase an ordinary criminal's sentence. They were denied by the court because the motivation was not known "beyond a reasonable doubt" or because the criminal and victim had a personal relationship that provided the true motivation for the crime. I can only think of one case where a hate crimes statute was successfully abused. This one case is undergoing appeal where the "hate crimes" verdict will likely be reversed somewhere down the line.

Hi Fragilis,

You're welcome and I also wish to thank you for your replies. I have enjoyed them and have found them to be clear, intelligent and insightful. Thank you.

After talking with you about "hate crimes" I really have only two problems with it. First, putting the crimes against one group of people over the crimes against another group. I believe (naively I guess) that all crimes should be treated in a professional manner. Getting evidence, tracking down the criminal, prosecuting the criminal and punishment of the criminal, dealing only in the fact of the case. The victim's and the criminal's race, gender, sexuality, religion, ethic origin, ... should not play into the case.

Second, I can see where trying to prove a "hate crime" can get extremely complex and tricky, allowing the criminal to go free. It becomes trying to look into someone's heart to see his/her motives. How many humans have that ability? So unless the criminal confesses or is affiliated with an organization that promotes hate, it will be very hard to prove a "hate crime".

I have friends that are white, black, Hispanic, middle-eastern, homosexual, bi-sexual, (I'm not sure about any zoophiles), hetrosexual, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, atheist, and a host of other diversities. I try to treat everyone with respect and I (I guess naively again)expect everyone else to also. I guess I need to take my rose colored glasses off.

Mostly

Fragilis, if you are interested you can now is a bad picture of me on my home page. I'll be putting up a better one later.

Mostly.

PS. I finally did it!!! WOO HOO

It is indeed difficult to prosecute a "hate crime." I also find it difficult to keep my rose-colored glasses on when talking about criminals.

Hurrah on the picture! You do indeed look Mostly Harmless, as the name implies. And the sweater is very nice.