Should laws be created that increase the punishment of criminal acts proven to be motivated by discrimination? Do you think hate crime legislation helps decrease or at least deter acts of racism that lead to violence? Why or why not?\n\nThis is not a school project of any kind. I am seeking good well thought out answers. Something to get you away from all the gawd awful stuff on here. Thanks!
215892
No, I don't think hate crime legislation can either stamp out racism or prevent violence.\n\nIf teaching the Golden Rule can't prevent some people from growing up racist, how is any law going to succeed?\n\nIf the knowledge that assault and murder are illegal didn't stop that guy in Texas who dragged a black man to death behind his pickup truck, how will adding more years to his sentence make anything right?  Besides, he'll get the needle anyway, what more can the law do?\n\nWhat is the use of a law that says, in effect, YOU MAY NOT THINK THIS, OR THAT, OR THE OTHER THING, AND IF WE FIND OUT THAT YOU DID THEN YOU'RE GOING TO JAIL FOR EVEN LONGER THAN YOU OTHERWISE WOULD HAVE  ???  Who could respect such law? \n\nI've had some -- er, INTERESTING thoughts about some of the people I've encountered on Yahoo Answers; interesting enough to make for lurid headlines and compelling court transcripts.  And I'm a harmless person, if I do say so myself.  Which of us is entirely innocent in his/her thoughts?\n\nI think -- I hope -- that with each generation there will be fewer racists, if only because more people realize that there's no profit in it (economic or otherwise).  This is not something that can be legislated into existence.  The law is an undeniably great thing but it's not the way to fix everything.
196423
why should law abiding citizens turn in their guns? \n\nits the criminals that the govt should be focusing on...plus if you require everyone to turn their guns in...do you really believe that criminals will follow suit just because they have made a new law? i doubt it...
198969
Who the HELL would go and beat a Hispanic kid for tryin to get some love. And HELL YES that is *F*U*C*K*I*N*G* racist. I am personally not a fan of racism due to the fact that I am black. Our fore fathers and God did not create this country and this world to have hateful kids that terrorize other because of their race.
172776
Oh, my dear PANCHA...  You already know my stand on this,... but we'll 'dance' again...\n\nIt may very well be that many illegal immigrants don't understand the severity of their crime.  But that doesn't matter:\n\nIGNORANCE OF THE LAW IS NO EXCUSE...Period!  Without the 'Rule of Law', society would degrade into utter chaos.  \n\nImagine that I go into a parking lot and find your car, unlocked, and with the keys in it.  Does that mean that I'm suppose to drive it?  And if I take your car, get caught, and am charged with a crime,... would it be okay with you if I claim that I didn't understand how severe the crime was?;  that I decided to take the car because I wanted to get somewhere faster than walking, and the opportunity just presented itself? (...and yes, that IS a fair comparison).\n\nNo one should enter another STATE, much less another country, without being knowledgeable of the laws which apply to them.\n\nOne would think, given the overwhelming opinions against your rhetoric on this issue, that you would have 'seen the light' by now.\n\nBut PANCHA must, indeed, live in a  very dark and lonely place...
350626
I think that would be fantastic idea. Anyone guilty of unsocial behavior,minor crimes it would certainly make them think before breaking the law.Just imagine the uproar this would cause ,(ITS against their Human rights)\nNever about the rights of law abiding citizens.
381332
I haven't followed this political case, but I believe that any law named after a person is questionable since those pusing it will often be reacting based on emotion and grief, rather than reason.\n\nAny good law will have safeguards, and rational provisions so that whatever action is made illegal is really the action that is the threat. I generally oppose laws that make actions illegal just because they might, in combination with other actions, have the potential to cause harm. I believe in punishing those who cause the harm, and not limiting action based purely on speculation.\n\nThat being said, the voting process has become an emotional one. People -- whether voters or legislators -- pass laws based on their gut reactions, often without any concern for the consequences or long term effects. Logic and reason have largely been abandoned in favor of making headlines.\n\nAnd sadly, that's not likely to change any time soon. Good luck.
186351
Where did you pick this? from the dumb laws? there were rules for the times. Things have changes, we have no such law that exists which are racially biased.
407748
Well I think the main problem is that the KKK is not trying to push Christianity as much as it is trying to promote racism.  Now I do understand that the Klan has Christian roots, but I believe the analogy is a bit off.  I would think (and I am a Christian mind you) that those who blow up abortion clinics and stuff like that would be a better analogy than the Klan.
670233
I can rant about this all night if you want.\n\nThe simple, central fallacy is that writing laws will solve problems.  Commit a wrongdoing = go to jail.  In jail for a felony?  Get rehabilitation.  Good time and behavior = release.\n\nIt's a system designed by politics to punish threats to society.  We don't know what we're doing on the subject of rehabilitation, we're guessing.  ANOTHER set of laws deal with probation and sentencing length and release dates.\n\nSo the system as a whole is a sloppy political fingerpainting.  Ugh.  Nobody thinks they have honestly been rehabilitated and represent no threat whatsoever upon release.  kubuki theatre.
488709
This is an interesting question in light of the laws that punish some people more severely than others because of their opinion, even when committing exactly the same act. I am referring to "Hate Crime" laws that enhance a criminal offense because of the person's opinion/rationale for committing the crime. So, if one person kills another person because he hates that person’s ethnicity or religious views then he will receive a harsher punishment than another guy who kills without hate, simply because he enjoys killing. The point is, you may be entitled to your own opinion, but you will be punished for your thoughts and NOT just the act.
164557
I wanted to agree with you until  I read the line about blacks against whites.  If you had said a system problem that discrimates against whites in favor of minorities I would agree, but your saying blacks against whites, and thats a different problem.\n\nWhen a school admits minority students who test worse then white students because they choose to give weight to the person who is a minority, its a bad thing of course.\nWhen the Michigan State police admit black females who score 88% on the test, but require white males to get 97%, thats a problem of course.\n\nBut when a black man chooses to hate white people, for whatever reason, its of course a social ill, but one that isn't reverse discrimination, just a black man who sunk to the level of the racist white man.\n\nI had a coworker who as a child had to run to school so that the staplers white people threw at her wouldnt hit her in the head.  Her brother forever hates white people. She however says a person is a person, and I need to get to know the person before I hate them, cause if I just hate them for the color of their skin, then I am as guilty as the person throwing staplers at me.\n\nI think thats about the most intelligent thing I heard from her.
219873
The first time an african-american friend of mine got in a racially-motivated fight, I wasn't in the room. I was in the bar, but I wasn't in the same room. I saw him getting hustled out the door by a bunch of white people, (I live in a predominantly white community) and I became concerned. \n\nApparently, somebody walked up and said, "I'm gonna kill you, ******!" and started pounding on him. He responded (admirably) by pounding harder on the other guy.\n\nBy the time I got there, Brian was outside, and there was this huge, mountain of a man, being held back by two very small women, because he had just had the **** kicked out of him by Brian. That was the night that I REALLY became friends with Brian. All I told him, was, "Next time, I got your back."\n\nLong story short, the bartender had told Brian that the cops had been called, so he allowed himself to be pushed out of the bar. I met him outside, found out what had happened, and told him, you're always welcome at my bar (the bar I usually go to, not the bar I own). We went there.\n\nThe... (I wanna say "bigot" but I'll say...) racist came back to the same bar a few weeks later (when he'd recovered) and asked Brian if he could drink there. Brian said, "It's not my bar. Ask the owners." He did, and they said, "OK." Neither one of us has been back since. \n\nIt doesn't matter who you're comfortable with, it's what you think is right. I have to think before I speak, with non-white people, but it's only to make sure I won't offend anyone. I know what's right. I grew up in a racist community, listening to racist and homophobic jokes my whole life. Thankfully, neither of my parents are racist or homophobic, so it wasn't taught to me at home. Regrettably, they knew what kind of community they'd moved me into, and thought I'd have a better shot at conforming if they kept their mouths shut and let me make up my own mind. It's a good thing for me, that I'm not easily swayed by nonsense.\n\nEven with the backwoods start I got, I know now that when I meet someone, I meet a person. Not a German, or a Russian, a Brit, a Swahili, or a Columbian. There are a lot bigger differences in people than skin color. I've met a$$holes, angels, perverts, bible thumpers, and a thousand other different types of person, that don't involve parentage in the least. \n\nUnlike most people that include non-whites in their little circles, I'm not just trying to prove that I'm not racist. I KNOW I'm not racist. I have nothing to prove to anyone.\n\nBack to your question: I'm uncomfortable around racists and homophobes. Period. I can hang with Brian because I KNOW he's not racist, and I'm pretty sure he's not homophobic, too. \n\nIf a non-white person walks into the bar, and starts being a (let's say "jerk" because yahoo doesn't like it when I swear) jerk, I'm gonna go over there and call them a jerk. Plain and simple. \n\nIt took me a lot of time to refine this "people are people" thing, (given my background) and now I'm going to be who I am. I've been accused of being a racist, because I called a jerk a jerk, but frankly I don't care what people think of me. I (and my friends) know who I am, and if they (the people who accuse me of such things) are idiots to begin with, then... I've always got Brian to back me up there.\n\nNo, I don't identify myself as being white, any more than I tell people that Brian is black (I would've said african-american, but that's HIS self-description). If I describe someone to another, I make it a point to exclude skin color.\n\nBtw, the reason it took me so long to answer, is because in my original answer (I deleted it and rewrote it) I mentioned the bar too many times, and had to go there. I'm not sober right now.
388141
Agree.  Criminials like for their victims to be unarmed.  The only thing a gun law ever did was cause crime rates to go up, because criminals are no longer afraid they might get shot.
541743
exactly.  very good points. but sometimes logic just is to obvious. until people can debate the logic over the issue and stop shouting racist, maybe something will be done to stop the breaking of the law.
346172
I think that trying to make Hate Speech and Hate Crimes synonymous is a mistake.\n\nA Hate Crime is a crime which is designed to intimidate or threaten a group of people that goes beyond just the act itself.  For instance, burning a cross in someone’s front yard would be considered a simple act of vandalism if you just looked at the act by itself.  It becomes a Hate Crime when you look at the message behind the act\n\nHate Speech is the act of speaking out against a group of people.\n\nMaybe I am just uninformed but I don't know of any legislation against Hate Speech itself, just Hate Crimes.  Which is the effort to treat those crimes aimed at intimidating a group differently than just a crime against an individual?\n\n\nTo address your Added Details:\nA Hate Crime, first and foremost, is a crime.  Hate Crime legislation was put into place to put emphasis on crimes that were intended to be felt far and beyond just the actual act.   If the act was not a crime, then there is no way for the Hate Crime Laws to be brought into effect.\n\nThere is a chance for abuse, there were some instances where it is debated whether the crime should be elevated to 'Hate Crime Status'.  Plus there is the belief that only crimes AGAINST minorities are considered Hate Crimes where the crimes BY minorities against the majority are not.  There are efforts to keep things applied evenly, but there will be hiccups.\n\nYou are, of course, free to express your opinions, but only in legal acceptable ways.  If you dislike a particular segment of society (religious, racial, orientation) then you can demonstrate or speak out.  If you decide to attack someone or commit a crime in order to threaten or intimidate that segment, then they should throw the book at you.  I never want to hear that some police officer assumed that a kid painting a swastika on a synagogue was just a 'simple act of vandalism'.  The crime goes deeper than that and it is an insult to the sensibilities of anyone involved to believe differently
388074
Any one who thinks whites don't get discriminated against is VERY VERY ignorant! Any white person who has grown up as a minority in there area has felt discrimination as bad as any one else. The truth is that discrimination happens to all races. Just because we (yes, I'm white) are the (slowly declining) majority, minorities think that it's just a free ride or something. I get really tired of hearing all the sob stories about how "your ancestors" did this to "my ancestors". I personally haven't lynched, enslaved, stolen land from, or denied anyone, and if discrimination is going to get any better, all races need to focus on ways to better future instead of holding on to the grudges of a bunch of dead guys. The past is the past....I intend on moving forward!
167854
Yup, I'm very sick of it! I'm sorry people have assumed you are racist just due to your background.  What I hate is when people get away with being "counter-racist" because they are a "person of color".  That really gets to me!\n\nSomeone brought up having a white history month, Personally I'm for getting rid of Black History month.  For one I feel that all history should be studied all year long, not separated or each race should have it's own history month (which in my mind would be pointless and segregating).\n\nSomeone else mentioned, that Blacks have been taught "you are the enemy".  That's nonsense, and if it's not just as many whites have been taught "blacks are the enemy"  and why does it always come back to back and white?  Any race can and does experiance racism!