My Thoughts on the Concept of Hate Crimes

So, can someone explain to me the point of hate crimes? I mean, I understand the intent, I suppose, to ensure that everyone can comprehend the seriousness and all, but am I the only one who thinks we are getting a little too close to criminalizing thought? And if so, isn’t that something about which we should all be very concerned?

Let’s take a simple assault case for example. Isn’t assault already a crime? Should the motive somehow make it a more serious offense than it already is? Is the victim somehow harmed more by the reason for the assault than for the assault itself? I don’t get it.

What about murder? Is the victim more or less dead based on the mindset of the killer? In criminal trials, attorneys always say that they don’t have to show the motive, but they usually do, because juries expect it. They want to know why and I can understand that. If I were on a jury, it would certainly help me decide on the person’s innocence or guilt, but on the other hand, it should not necessarily affect the length of the sentence imposed. Should it?

Logically speaking, if someone is guilty of assault or murder or whatever, they should get the appropriate sentence. (Personally, I would hope for the maximum.) To add to that sentence by somehow deciding that the motive was hatred or prejudice or some other rationale seems excessive. Again, the results are the same, the effect on the victim is the same. And the only true difference is in the mind of the guilty party.

To me the whole idea is an extension of the stupidity that results from the obsession some have with political correctness. Free speech is now being severely limited by the victim mentality that has created the horrible crimes of hate speech. If I offend you, somehow I’m now a criminal? Again, are we criminalizing thoughts and beliefs? Or should crimes be based on actions, not their motives.

I understand where some of the reasoning comes from. I understand trying to protect minorities from discrimination based on race or sexual orientation or whatever, but again, at the risk of sounding repetitious, how does the motive behind the crime have any more impact on the victim than before? And what about the average white guy? Don’t I deserve to be protected from assault or murder just as much as the next person? (When’s the last time the media screamed hate crime when some white kid in a MAGA hat was assaulted?) I know it’s not as newsworthy, but it’s still a crime, right?

And why do we have to always assume that hate is the motive anyway. If an LGBTQ person gets attacked, is it always a hate crime? What if the person is just a jerk? And when are we ever going to reach a point in this country where everything doesn’t have to be about race for God’s sake! If a person of color gets attacked shouldn’t we be more concerned with the victim than the skin color of the perpetrator? Again, maybe the motive is something totally unrelated to the victim’s race. Maybe it was a crime of opportunity. Maybe the attacker was just waiting for the next person to walk down that particular street. Why do we always jump to the conclusion that it’s about race. Probably because we have swallowed all the lies from the Left who still believe we live in a horrible racist country where no one is safe anymore. And that’s just sad.

But let me get back to my real point, are we criminalizing thought? In the classic novel, 1984, one of the great fears of the people is being targeting by the Thought Police for thoughtcrime. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thought_Police In many ways, we are seeing some of the terrifying future predictions from this book already showing up today. And make no mistake, this is a big one. If the government can come and get you and prosecute you just for thinking things that they disapprove, what kind of society have we become? And aren’t hate crimes the same thing? At what point will we decide that hateful thoughts are a crime even without the accompanying criminal actions? Aren’t we already condemning people (in the media) for the thoughts and beliefs they have that come in conflict with the accepted and approved rules of society? It’s a slippery slope and I fear that too few people even realize how close we are to the edge.

Let’s not fail to protect our citizens and let’s be vigilant in our efforts, but let’s be sure that we are prosecuting the crimes committed and not just punishing people for the thoughts that may have provoked the actions in the first place.

(FYI - In addition to federal law, currently, 45 states and the District of Columbia have statutes criminalizing various types of bias-motivated violence or intimidation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hate_crime_laws_in_the_United_States)