Hate Crime

I see we've made it more illegal to do an illegal act against someone because they are a member of a specific group.

Do I get a shorter sentence if I murder someone out of love? Is it better if I killed someone who was a member of a group I really respected? Would that be called a respect crime?

I am all about individual liberty. Hate crimes are crimes against individuals, not groups. Hate crime laws are all about elevating the group over the individual. Listening to the people advocating them I wonder if they care about the ethnicity of the victim more than the fact the poor soul was murdered.

For me, it doesn't matter that the victim was black. It matters that they were murdered. The murderer should be punished. For murder. There are several crimes that I think deserve capital punishment, murder is on that list. I intend to execute the criminal, what more can we add to that sentence? I am reminded of the execution of John Wayne Gacy. He was convicted of killing 33 people. His lawyers attempted to delay his execution by claiming that the evidence didn't support some small portion of the convictions, like 5 of them, and a new trial should be convened. The judge essentially said, "We will go forward on the execution of the remaining, uncontested, convictions. Just one would be enough."

He's a murderer! Execute him.

He's a murderer who hated the victim because they were gay! Execute him. Being a murderer was enough.

Preferably the waste of carbon will be ended by swift action of their last intended victim. Saves time and money.

A secondary thing that always bothers me about hate crimes is that it is also thought policing.

I have every right to hate; that does not grant any right or power to do anything against the object of my hate. If I hate blacks, women or gays as long as I keep it to myself I am not hurting anyone. Literally.

We should also consider that the enhanced sentencing provisions and the controversy about them will cause some perpetrators to act where they otherwise wouldn't because of the enhance notoriety that would come with the crime. Punishing the perpetrators of crimes has two purposes, removing the people who do such things from the general population and to deter people from committing those crimes. To create a situation where a criminal is encouraged by the law is irresponsible.