[Previous entry: "Men"] [Next entry: "Sigmund Freud hatred"]
09/16/2002: "Hate crimes"
Just finished a book about hate and violence for my Minority Groups class. This book, along with that chapter about suicide in my Deviance class, has made for a rather depressing week in homework.
One thing I don't get is this idea about hate crimes. WHY should we punish someone more depending on their motivations? If three people tie a man to the back of a truck and drive with him hanging off the back for three miles while he's alive and conscious until he's decapitated by a rock...well, no matter WHAT their motivation was, the punishment should be swift and sure and harsh. Who cares if the three idiots did it because they didn't like his race? If we're giving them a worse punishment for their bigotness, does that mean someone who repeats that crime but is motivated by the money in his back pocket instead should get a lesser punishment? Look at the Matthew Shephard incident...everyone was screaming "hate crimes!" during the trial, but who cares? It was a heinious, disgusting, horrifying crime whether it was motivated by his sexuality or not. I feel like labeling certain crimes as "hate crimes" does nothing except to remind everyone that there are groups of people who are labeled by society as being different than other groups. HARDLY the path to acceptance.