All Crimes Are Hate Crimes

Posted by Matt in Crime on January 8th, 2010 | one response
Tags: Allentown, Constitution, Crime, Equal Protection Clause, Walden Galleria

You’ve certainly heard by now of the recent anti-gay attacks in Allentown and at the Walden Galleria Mall.

As bad as these incidents were, can we stop talking about hate crimes? I am sick and tired of certain groups getting special treatment in the eyes of the law. Have we forgotten that Lady Justice wears a blindfold.

I shouldn’t have to explain about the Equal Protection Clause in The Constitution, and it’s probably not worth the effort since people have chosen to be more outraged by the these recent incidents because of the motivation behind them.

Back in 2004, I was physically attacked, and the motivation was political bias. But is that considered a hate crime? Nope. In that case, the law saw a crime against me as less severe that had the motivation been my race, color, religion, or nationality. And my being a white male pretty much makes me exempt from being a hate crime victim (in the eyes of the law) even if the motivation had been my race.

Violence against anyone for any reason should outrage us all equally, regardless of the motivation. Instead of telling one group that violence against them merits a harsher punishment than violence against a different group, let’s just hold all violent offenders to the same, harsher standard.