Minorities in American History: Hate Crime Enhancements
Do you think that adding hate crime enhancements on current criminal punishments is fair? Explain your answer and give at least three supports for your answer.
posted by bcoffman | 12:26 PM
8 Comments:
I think that enhancements are not fair to the guilty party. How can a judge tell him what he was thinking? They can't unless they were in his mind. What is a hate crime? To me it seems that anything could be considered a hate crime, so it becomes a popularity contest. Judges are supposed to be fair, a jury is supposed to be fair, but as soon as you see someone you make a decision if you think they are innocent or guilty. I do not think that there is a fair way to tell if it was a hate crime or not.
Shane West
I believe that hate crime enhancements are necessary to our society. A hate crime is a crime, usually violent, motivated by prejudice or intolerance toward a member of a gender, racial, religious, or social group. I believe hate crimes should have harsher punishments for three reasons the first being Hate crime enhancements are not unjust. Second; hate crime laws already exist and need enhancement. Lastly; Intent can be proven and intent to a hate crime should be punished more severely.
First hate crime enhancements are not unjust. Hate crimes deserve a more severe punishment because they are doing more harm to the victim and to society.Hate crimes are usually targeted towards minorities and by making a harsher punishment towards those who do practice hate crime will actually strive towards equality.
Second; hate crime laws already exist and need enhancements. Current hate crime laws do not meet the bar of justice. only increased punishment will ensure that the perpetrator is getting what is due.Hate is not a human trait, we aren't born hating people, it is something that is taught and can only be punished and untaught through hate crime enhancements.As a result, increased punishments would help the aggressor attain what they deserve.
Lastly; Intent can be proven and intent to a hate crime should be punished more severely. Intent needs to be punished because it is arguably more important than the action. Our justice system levels murder in to man-slaughter murder 1 murder 2 why not create levels of injustice with hate crimes? Seeing that the intent of a hate crime is more terrifying than simple premeditative murder, it is obvious to enhance hate crime laws to create a stronger punishment for those who kill in intent of race or minority.
Overall Hate crime enhancements are necessary to our criminal justice system.
Hate crimes, unchecked, can tumble into greater and more dangerous things. I think the need for the enhancement of hate crime punishments is all relative, it should vary from case to case just like any other crime should and sometimes does. I believe this because you can never really tell sometimes the motivation for a crime. However, if a motive is clearly stated following the guidelines as a hate crime, then yes punishments should be enhanced because they are violent acts of prejudice. Our nation has had an evident history of hate crimes, it's time we learned from our mistakes.
A hate crime is just a crime until the motivation is proven as an act of prejudice. But how can you really know the motivation, the judge can't unless the accused comes right out and says it. Hate crime is based on opinions and unless it the motivation is proven, the punishments should not be as severe.
But when the motivation is clear and straight-forward, the punishments should be enhanced. When someone does something wrong, they can never learn from it unless there is an unequal exchange. If someone preforms a hate crime and gets a punishment that they think is "worth it" they shall never learn. This is basic human nature. However, if the trade-off is unequal, and the criminal gets an "enhanced" punishment, they would learn and most likely never commit a hate crime again.
Our history has seen many hate crimes. We would like to think that they are a thing of our past, but unfortunately, they are not. Hate crimes are still going on today because of either new controversial ideas or even long-standing feuds.
If we want to end this vicious cycle, we have to act, with due punishment.
I believe that clearly, adding hate crime enhancements on a current criminal punishment is fair. Though, this should be done in moderation as well. For example, unless strong evidence affiliating the suspect to a hate crime is obviously present, then the addition of a hate crime based punishment solely upon presumption would be unacceptable.
Hate crimes exist not only in our community, but in a much more intricate, race based, system within our prisons. For example, the Aryan Brotherhood is most notorious, powerful, and violent prison gang in America. They operate under a die-hard racist ideology, and account for almost 18% of all prison murders in America, even though there are only less than 10% of them. With the addition of hate crime based additions on crimes, investigators, as well as the FBI, could accurately pinpoint the people responsible for the foundation of all of these deaths. Give them the right punishment. Or even possibly seclude them from contact with other members.
So much blood is spilled over the sole fact that someone is of a different color, religion, gender, nationality, or disability. Gang wars, outside of prison, are harmful to society as well. Gang rivalry, for the most part, is drawn among racial lines. Harassing graffiti is painted everywhere, signifying various threats to people of different race, which ultimately leads to murders. These criminals could easily be pursued and brought to justice with hate crime additions added to other charges.
Hate crimes are not exclusively the cause of gang related activity. Everyday men and women associate people of different origin with murder, crime, poverty, and so forth. Crimes are committed because of these factors too. Every person in society has their own race-based ideology. It is those who act upon these primitive assumptions that should be punished to the furthest extent of the law.
“All men are created equal” and hate crime enhancements on current criminal punishment are just. Why should we let the killing and discrimination continue? We live in the 21 century; maybe we should start acting like it.
Kris Wienke
I think hate crimes are not needed. If someone murders someone because of hate of the individual or the hate of their characteristics. It has no play.
I believe that Hate Crime Enhancements are not fair and unnecessary. Just because the person is different color, sex, or what ever other difference their are it should not matter. We have been told since we were little that everyone is equal. In The Declaration of Independence is says "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness", That says right there that eveyone has the same rights. For example if a white man kills a chinese man because he completely hates the chinese when it all comes down to it the chinese man was just a life just like any other life that gets taking in a drive buy or any other circumstance. In any murder their is hate obvioulsy why else would someone decide to kill someone its out of anger and hate. So why is it a special punishment for those who are classified in a certain group of people? Also, if a white man kills another white man because he didnt like him, he hated him but the murderer isnt going to get as punished as if he would have killed a mexican man but he hated the guy so how can they really seperate those from just a crime and a hate crime? So with that i just think that it is not a very clear law that makes sence so I dont think its fair.
In my opinion, I believe that hate crime enhancements are not fair. My reasoning behind this is based off of Thomas Jefferson’s famous quote “All men are created equal.” America holds this quote and logic very close; this relates back to the question at hand because if all men are created equal then each life that is taken should have the same punishment. For example if one was to kill a man just because they were African American he/she punishment should be to the same extent as someone who killed another person because they are jealous of their wealth. Another reason why I am negative towards hate crime enhancements is because no one can possibly determine a hate crime. How can the jury, judge, and all other party's determine the difference between a hate crime and a minority being murdered based on other reasons? The answer is they cannot. If The United States wants a fair court system then they should not base a felons punishment on a “maybe”, this meaning they should feel confident of knowing exactly what a felon is guilty for. My final reason why I am opposed to hate crime enhancements is it is unfair to the majority of the population in America who are Caucasian. Someone could just as easily want to kill someone because they are Caucasian as they would a minority. It is unjust for minorities only to have enhancements when an elided hate crime occurs quite simply because someone who is considered part of the majority could have the identical case, but the felon would have less of a punishment because they were Caucasian. For all of these reasons I feel that hate crime enhancements are not only unfair but unjust.
Alex Bisges
I do not think there should be enhancement in punishment for "hate crimes". Any act against someone is a hate crime, plain and simple. Also, if it is considered a "hate crime" simply because you are a minority, why is their life worth more than that of a majority race?
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