Georgia Strikes down hate crimes law

[Avatar4321]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...ap/20041025/ap_on_re_us/georgia_hate_crimes_2

7-0 decision. i bet libs are rather upset right now.

 

[dmp]

yet another reason to move to Georgia

IMO, 90% of Hate Crime legislation is worthless.


Want to stop 'hate' crimes?

Stop puhsing your homosexual choices upon society.

Stop pushing your 'it's NEVER okay to insult people of colour - unless they happen to be white!'

Stop pushing your 'It's NEVER okay to hit your spouse, unless your spouse is male'

Stop pushing your "Black people can NEVER committ a 'hate crime' against whites, yet EVERY crime committed against blacks by default is 'hate-related'"


By 'your' I don't mean "YOU - Juan Sánchez Villa-Lobos Ramírez"...I mean 'you' as in 'those with an agenda'.

 

[Dave]

90% of interacial crime is blacks attacking whites.

 

[Hobbit]

Yeah, the double standard sickens me. Even if you can prove that a minority killed a white man solely based of the fact that he was white, it's not a hate crime, it's a defense. "The white man has been oppressing me for so long that I mentally snapped and was unaware of the consequences of my actions."

 

[KarlMarx]

yet another reason to move to Georgia

IMO, 90% of Hate Crime legislation is worthless.


Want to stop 'hate' crimes?

Stop puhsing your homosexual choices upon society.

Stop pushing your 'it's NEVER okay to insult people of colour - unless they happen to be white!'

Stop pushing your 'It's NEVER okay to hit your spouse, unless your spouse is male'

Stop pushing your "Black people can NEVER committ a 'hate crime' against whites, yet EVERY crime committed against blacks by default is 'hate-related'"


By 'your' I don't mean "YOU - Juan Sánchez Villa-Lobos Ramírez"...I mean 'you' as in 'those with an agenda'.

Here is a novel idea, somewhat radical...how about EQUALITY UNDER THE LAW? Why is it if I kill a straight person, I get less punishment than if I kill a gay person? Is the straight person less valuable than the straight? Or the white less valuable than the black?

Hate Crime legislation is not about rights, it's about giving designated victim groups preferential treatment.

 

[NATO AIR]

the problem in IMHO is that too often, we have a serious issue with sentencing in our society. smoke dope or crack, get 20 years. kill someone, get 20 years. sorry, that's seriously wrong. smoke dope or crack, get treatment. kill someone, get life.

it disturbs me greatly to see someone kill or seriously injure anothe person and get a light sentence, when a person who does drugs or robs someone gets a much harsher sentence.

that's wrong, and i think the hate crime laws are a terrible but well meaning attempt to address this.

 

[Merlin1047]

the problem in IMHO is that too often, we have a serious issue with sentencing in our society. smoke dope or crack, get 20 years. kill someone, get 20 years. sorry, that's seriously wrong. smoke dope or crack, get treatment. kill someone, get life.

it disturbs me greatly to see someone kill or seriously injure anothe person and get a light sentence, when a person who does drugs or robs someone gets a much harsher sentence.

that's wrong, and i think the hate crime laws are a terrible but well meaning attempt to address this.

Good point about the inconsistency in sentencing. That was brought home to me particularly hard when Susan Smith was not sentenced to death for the premeditated drowning of her two sons. An act she committed simply because the children were inconvenient to her love life.

But hate crime laws are counter-productive and a hazard to our liberties. As Karl pointed out, hate crime laws violate the premise of equality under the law. Politicians, in their never-ending quest to find a special interest group and pander to it, invented the concept of hate crimes. They did so in order to slip a placebo to minority groups to make them feel safer.

The idiots who dragged a black man to his death behind a pickup truck have been sentenced to die. No hate crime legislation was needed for that. The insidious thing about hate crime laws is that it gives selected groups special status before the law. If a white man and a black man get into a brawl, the white man can only charge the black man with assault. But the black man can charge the white not only with assault, but could opt instead to pursue a hate crime charge. So now the law is charged with determining personal motives. A jury must try to get into a person's head and heart to determine if a crime was committed out of hatred.

What difference does the motivation make? If a criminal robs a convenience store owned by a Jew will he be convicted of robbery or will he be convicted of a hate crime? Robbery is robbery. Is it more heinous in the eyes of the law to rob a member of a protected group? If I were inclined to rob convenience stores, I would first case the place to make sure the owner was a WASP male.

So the question ultimately boils down to justice. Are we all equal under the law? Or will we allow the statue of justice to lift her blindfold just long enough to check our skin color?

 

[dmp]

I guarantee if I was defending my home/family against whomever hatred would be a factor.

 

[NATO AIR]

i think the hate crime laws are a terrible but well meaning attempt to address this.

i agree with you wholeheartedly. that's why i said they were a perhaps well-intentioned idea but they're really not good for justice or the legal system.

 

[musicman]

All of your posts are absolutely on the money. Add to them the fact that 55 years ago, when people were first reading George Orwell's "1984", the idea that anyone could be prosecuted for "thoughtcrime" sounded like bizarre science fiction.

 

[Mr. P]

The absurdity of hate crime has been covered well in the thread except for this.......

... If I were inclined to rob convenience stores, I would first case the place to make sure the owner was a WASP male...

GOOD LUCK!!

 

[NATO AIR]

how long before we live in a society like "minority report"?

 

[dmp]

It'll happen sooner rather than later. With laws being drafted which prevent even CHURCHES from preaching against established 'sins' - those laws already being enforced in some countries, it won't be long until the thought police come knocking.

 

[musicman]

It'll happen sooner rather than later. With laws being drafted which prevent even CHURCHES from preaching against established 'sins' - those laws already being enforced in some countries, it won't be long until the thought police come knocking.

It's my understanding that Canada has forbidden the airing of John Hagee Ministries' (San Antonio) television broadcast because of Hagee's unflinching condemnation of homosexuality.

 

[dmp]

It's my understanding that Canada has forbidden the airing of John Hagee Ministries' (San Antonio) television broadcast because of Hagee's unflinching condemnation of homosexuality.

Twood not surprise me; although I was thinking specifically of a pastor in Denmark? The Netherlands? who was convicted of inciting hate-thoughts by preaching against homosexuality.

 

[Merlin1047]

The absurdity of hate crime has been covered well in the thread except for this.......


GOOD LUCK!!

Yeah, well I NEVER said I'd be very good at it!

But if you ever see me pulling up in this just go ahead and open the register.

 

[Merlin1047]

Here is the opening statement of a treatise by the Anti Defamation League. I will readily admit that Jews have more right to be paranoid about racial and religious hatred than most. But the ADL does not do a service to Jews by taking such a position as that stated here. Matter of fact quite the opposite is probably true. By demanding special victim status, is it not likely that the ADL generates the very resentment and hostility toward Jews which it purportedly seeks to eliminate?

http://www.adl.org/99hatecrime/intro.asp

I. Introduction
------------------------------------------------------------------------

All Americans have a stake in an effective response to violent bigotry. Hate crimes demand a priority response because of their special emotional and psychological impact on the victim and the victim's community. The damage done by hate crimes cannot be measured solely in terms of physical injury or dollars and cents. Hate crimes may effectively intimidate other members of the victim's community, leaving them feeling isolated, vulnerable and unprotected by the law. By making members of minority communities fearful, angry and suspicious of other groups -- and of the power structure that is supposed to protect them -- these incidents can damage the fabric of our society and fragment communities.