A question about hate crimes

[Ban my account ffs!]

It punishes motives rather than actions.

Hardly an unusual thing for the Law to do. There's a reason manslaughter and murder are seperate offenses.

^^^ This

I see both sides of this issue.  On the one hand, I understand equality under the law.  Everybody gets the same protection and everybody has the equal right not to be harmed in their person by another individual.

On the other side, if you are, say, an effeminate gay man living in a very conservative area, your chances of being attacked is higher simply because of who you are.

So I have to err on the side of supporting hate crime legislation.  The attacker threw equality out hte window when he/she singled out a certain group to attack for being "different".

Of course you should have to have proof beyond a reasonable doubt that the perp was motivated by hate or prejudice against the victim due to race/religion/sexuality/etc.  If you plan to rob a house and you end up killing the guy that lives there and he happens to be black.. that's not a hate crime... obviously.

So.. yes.. we need hate crimes legislation, but the guidelines should be strict.

[Ban my account ffs!]

But you never said why you "err on the side of supporting hate crime legislation".  Well you did but it was because gay people are, presumably, more likely to be attacked.  A small person is more likely to be a victim of a mugging, should size be added to hate crime legislation?

Mugging shouldn't fall under the guidelines of hate crime legislation. 

My idea of limited hate crime legislation would be Matthew Shepard type cases... where the intent was to target the person precisely because he was gay.

So, I guess in your case, if the mugger mugs the person not because he wants to mug somebody to gain money... but simply to assault and harass a small person, then yes... that would be a hate crime.

[Ban my account ffs!]

Yeah, but shouldn't people that drag people to death be punished harshly regardless of what excuse their conscious needed to do the deed?  Does the guy that drags a guy to death for raping his daughter hate less than the guy that does it because his victim was gay or black?

Dragging a guy to death because he raped your daughter is more or less a crime of passion and I would argue that while the punishment should still be harsh, it should be somewhat less than if you just targeted somebody who is innocent for just being who they are.

At the end of the day:  Motive is a huge factor in crime.  Just like you need a motive in order to charge someone with 1st degree murder, motive should play a role in all violent crime.