Disgusting

I think rape and pedophilia really should get put on the harshest penalty list. It's beyond imagination to why people could violate others (especially children) in such a way. I'd rather be murdered than raped. I have to admit I have no sympathy for those men who get beaten up in jail because they are pedophiles. Even criminals get that it's beyond animal behaviour.

I thought hate crimes was just a motive. I mean if you have two scenarios - one where a driver hits and kills a person by accident and then another where the driver is a klan racist and runs down and kills a black person on purpose .. I would definetly punish the person who murdered someone on purpose more harshly.

I thought that was what hate crime was, just a very general description that implies motive.

edit :

This doesn't make sense entirely .. it doesn't say what you compare hate crimes to. If it's like I did and compare it to a crime which has no motive (accident), then yes - of course.

Without a comparison, the question is rather unclear and makes for a poor poll.

no, a murder's a murder.

what toretorden is describing, an accident, isn't murder though, it's manslaughter.

How is it thought police?

Because you're getting extra sentencing based on the thought that caused you to commit the crime as opposed to the crime itself.

Just to make it clear.

Running someone over on accident: Manslaughter
Running someone over to collect insurance: Murder
Running someone over because of their skin color: Murder + Hate Crime sentence

Why is the last scenario deserving of more punishment exactly?

yeah Tore those are two completely different crimes (in America, anyways).

and i don't understand why there should be separate penalties. hate isn't a crime, why should hate crimes be penalized any more severely than normal circumstances? overzealous antagonism toward human prejudices really doesn't solve anything in the long run.

Pshhhhhhhhh touche'.


But does a jury have to prove that the crime was a hate crime? Because if I shoot a black guy, me being a white guy, and the black guy happened to be breaking into my house... would there be a penalty for me protecting my life and property by virtue of the perpetrator's skin color?

Now say if that really was the case and I shot a black man who broke into my house and I felt my life was in danger, and fatally shot him, would racial equality be a factor at all?
Would I be ridiculed because I perceived a black man to be more threatening than a white man? Would it turn the case?
Would someone sympathize with him instead of me, based on my decision?

Unless a black guy was driving, then it's murder

For the record, I do hate most crimes.