Hate crime
Why do we have to have a special term for a crime which is a crime anyway regardless of the reason. If someone beats me up because I'm gay, I'll expect them to seen to by the police because they've beaten me up. I don't expect special treatment.

I don't see why we have this label of "hate crime" nor do I see the reason to have candlelight vigils to protest about it. People who beat people up because of their differences (skin colour, sex, sexual orientation, whatever) won't pay any attention to protests. They'll beat people up anyway.
(BearWithLittleBrain, Thu 8 Mar 2012, 12:31, 14 replies)

It's an indirect way of criminalising bigotry.
If someone beats you up because you're gay/black/Jewish/all of the above, they'll get a harsher sentence than someone who beats you up because they thought you were looking at them funny.
( .Yeti. El amor en los tiempos del cólera, Thu 8 Mar 2012, 12:46, closed)

i bet you're a black lesbian with one leg.

( janet aylia y'all motherfuckers need jesus, Thu 8 Mar 2012, 12:46, closed)

Not all hate crime is otherwise criminal
"Inciting racial violence" etc.

Of course, you could argue that "inciting violence" should be a crime...
(moon monkey is busy making memories worth repressing, Thu 8 Mar 2012, 12:47, closed)

It is a crime.

(username failed moderation, Thu 8 Mar 2012, 13:03, closed)

Which magic
kingdom in the sky do you come from?

Hate crime distinctions exist because there are hate crimes. When you've been beaten up for being gay, you've been singled out.

It's not a queation of why someone beat someone else up, the question is, had they not been black, or gay, or whatever, would it have happened.

4 years in the clink rather than an £80 fine for brawling will make your attacker think a lot harder.
(username failed moderation, Thu 8 Mar 2012, 13:03, closed)

While I'd like to agree with you
"will make your attacker think a lot harder" is rubbish
( le brian, Thu 8 Mar 2012, 13:38, closed)

Exactly
No-one is going to change their mind about why they attack someone just because someone else has waived a magic legislation wand making it extra naughty.
(BearWithLittleBrain, Thu 8 Mar 2012, 13:48, closed)

It does
You still get it, but the casual racist / homophobe etc isn't nearly as willing to take a swing as he used to be.
(username failed moderation, Thu 8 Mar 2012, 14:17, closed)

But there IS a big, fundamental difference between me calling you a naive twat
and me calling you a naive faggot twat.
( scarpe We Stole Bikes, Thu 8 Mar 2012, 13:35, closed)

Is it a comma?

( number5 has been fighting tramps and losing., Thu 8 Mar 2012, 13:51, closed)

Clearly not...

( scarpe We Stole Bikes, Thu 8 Mar 2012, 13:52, closed)

My bad.

( number5 has been fighting tramps and losing., Thu 8 Mar 2012, 14:34, closed)

*My, bad

( scarpe We Stole Bikes, Thu 8 Mar 2012, 14:44, closed)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXw6znXPfy4&feature=youtube_gdata_player
( Windy Pig I'm naturally quite suspicious about the moon., Thu 8 Mar 2012, 15:05, closed)