Is there such a thing as a hate/race crime

irishman_abroad

Why is it considered worse for someone of one race to injure/kill someone of another race than it is for two people of the same race.

I wonder if there would have been the same uproar in america if the videotape had shown a black policeman hitting that guy or shock horror a white guy!!

My basic point is that race should not be an issue when dealing with violence, it is a heinous crime no matter what the circumstances and this "issue" only distracts us from dealing with it.

bonkey

Originally posted by irishman_abroad
My basic point is that race should not be an issue when dealing with violence, it is a heinous crime no matter what the circumstances and this "issue" only distracts us from dealing with it.

Race is an issue when dealing with the reasons for violence, not with the violence itself.

If you have a person whos aggressiveness is seen to vary depending on the race they are dealing with, then their actions are racially motivated.

Sure, violence is violence, but there are two ways of dealing with it. One is to try and simply prevent violence through better policing and/or more stringent punishment.

The other is to look at the underlying reasons for the violence and to tackle those instead.

Generally, the second option stands a better chance of success in my book.

jc

Thanx 4 The Fish

This can be best answered by Matt & Trey...

Stan: Oh, yeah! (to Governor) Hm'm'm! Hello, Mister Governor and thank you for taking the time to hear our presentation on hate crime laws entitled (flips the first page which reads the following.) "Hate Crime Laws. A Savage Hypocracy."! (Kyle starts the tape.) Yes, over the past few years, our great country has been developing new hate crime laws!

Tokken: (the next page shows somebody killing another person.) If somebody kills somebody, it's a crime! But if somebody kills somebody of a different colour, it's a hate crime!

Kyle: And we think that that is (turns back to the title page.) a savage hypocracy, because all crimes are hate crimes! If a man beats another man because that man was sleeping with his wife, is that not a hate crime?!

Stan: (turns to a page revealing a person putting graphitie on a government building.) If a person vandalizes a government building, is it not because of his hate for the government?!

Tokken: (turns to a page revealing someone driving a car over someone else.) The motivation for a crime shouldn't affect the sentancing!

Stan: (turns to a page will people in groups of five colours and a question mark in the middle.) Mayor, it is time to stop splitting people into groups! All hate crime laws do is support the ideas that blacks are different from whites, that homosexuals need to be treated differently from not-homos, that we aren't the same!

Kyle: (turns to a page with people of different colours all in a line holding hands.) But instead, we should all be treated the same, with the same laws, and the same punishments for the same crime!

Clintons Cat

i would like to think that any policeman using that ammount of force to "restrain" a person of any colour for a minor offence would be sacked without pension or benifits.but hey thats hardly realistic is it?

JarJar blinks

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