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The Folly of Hate Crimes Legislation

Tuesday, November 30th, 2004

The Tall Glass of Milk has an interesting post and comments regarding Hate Crimes laws. It stems from a post on LeShawn Barber’s blog about the subject. LaShawn said:

I’m going to demonstrate the silliness of these laws. Let’s suppose I’m bashing you over the head because you cut me off in traffic. There’s a law against that. Now let’s suppose I’m doing the same thing because you’re white, and I hate whites. Does the crime change? Why should I get two extra years in jail because I hate whites? If I’m beating you just because you’re white, does it hurt worse than if I’m beating you just because you cut me off in traffic? What if I’m bashing you over the head because you’re white and because you cut me off in traffic?
Let’s say I, a black person, set you on fire because you’re black and I hate black people, even though I’m black. In addition to other criminal laws broken, is it also a hate crime?

I couldn’t have said it any better. Her detractors claim that she is being simplistic, but I think that her detractors are trying to make it more complex than it really is. Read LaShawn’s post and her detractor’s post and make up your own mind.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 30th, 2004 at 1:35 pm by Nick, and is filed under Law. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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