Re: What is the point of hate laws?

On Apr 17, 11:56=A0pm, Ed <solon...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> On Apr 17, 1:12=A0am, RichD <r_delaney2...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > On Apr 13, Al ****ba <williamhubb...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
> > > >http://www.rense.com/general81/sud.htm
>
> > > Hatecrime laws seek to regulate thought. they are bull****e!
> > > If someone brains someone with a ball peren hammer, does
> > > screaming "I love you!" really mitigate the crime?
>
> > i) =A0A motorist runs through a stop sign by
> > accident, causing you injury.
>
> > ii) =A0A motorist deliberately hits you with
> > his vehicle, causing the same injury.
>
> > Should he be face the same penalty in
> > both cases?
>
> > --
> > Rich
>
> I'm not a lawyer but I'm under the impression that hate laws were
> enacted in order to move the jurisdiction of certain crimes from local
> law enforcement to Federal enforcement. =A0This was done because some
> believed that hate crimes sometimes echoed local prejudices and that
> perpetrators were more likely to escape appropriate punishment when
> enforcement was done at the local level.

  No that's why violations of civil rights were made a federal
offence, which
predates hate crime laws by decades (over a century??).