More hate crime lunacy

[manifold]

With each new passing case it becomes abundantly clear that hate crime laws, although well intentioned, are simply not a good idea.

Check out this one.

Sure, these guys are assholes. But seriously, littering the ground with cotton balls can lead to a felony charge? Talk about overkill.

Update: Racist vandalism suspects post bond : News : KRCG

 

[uscitizen]

Hatred is clearly on the rise in the USA and some want to do away with hate crime punishment?

I can see why some would want to do that....

Kinda like congress exempting itself from laws it passes.

 

[manifold]

Hatred is clearly on the rise in the USA

Prove it.

 

[uscitizen]

If you can't see it you never will.

 

[slackjawed]

While scattering cotton balls around to remind whoever saw them of slavery is in poor taste to be sure, I think it is just silly to treat it as a felony, 5 years ect.

 

[manifold]

If you can't see it you never will.

And you probably see it where it doesn't exist.

Either way that's kind of irrelevant.

Do you really believe that the two guys in the story should face up to 5 years in prison for littering the ground with cotton balls?

 

[uscitizen]

If you can't see it you never will.

And you probably see it where it doesn't exist.

Either way that's kind of irrelevant.

Do you really believe that the two guys in the story should face up to 5 years in prison for littering the ground with cotton balls?

Nope.

 

[manifold]

If you can't see it you never will.

And you probably see it where it doesn't exist.

Either way that's kind of irrelevant.

Do you really believe that the two guys in the story should face up to 5 years in prison for littering the ground with cotton balls?

Nope.

Well, thanks to hate crime laws that's likely going to happen.

 

[manifold]

And even if the judge goes easy on the sentencing, if found guilty that's still a felony on their records.

A punishment far worse than the crime.

But oh yeah, hate crime laws are fair and just.

 

[uscitizen]

You get as much justice as you can afford in the USA.

Had this been Rush he would not even have been charged.
Celebrity exemption.

 

[slackjawed]

If someone drags another person behind their pickup truck because they are black, that is a hate crime and should be treated as such.
If someone takes a gay man into a cemetery and shoves the cross off a tombstone up the gay man's ass because he is gay, that's a hate crime and should be treated as such.
If someone drives by the only house in a neighborhood where black people live to 'cleanse' the neighborhood, that is a hate crime and should be treated as such.
Scattering cotton balls around the campus to remind people of slavery is not the same as burning a cross on their front yard while wearing a sheet that covers your face.
Just my opinion, but it would seem lie a fine for littering, and the ensuing ridicule should suffice for this action that is certainly in bad taste.
The news report in the link doesn't make any mention of violence, real or implied, and that was the intent of the hate crimes legislation.
Even those that are racists, including some on here that openly anti-semitic or hate blacks have the same freedom of speech as any other person.
Nope, IMHO, this warrants a littering charge, but not 5 years.

 

[uscitizen]

How many cotton balls? Littering is a per piece crime.
If a $50 fine and 1000 cotton balls.... well you do the math.

 

[slackjawed]

How many cotton balls? Littering is a per piece crime.
If a $50 fine and 1000 cotton balls.... well you do the math.

If that is the way the law in enforced I am sure we could get a nice team of independent union 'counters' to add it up.
There would need to oversight as if a ball was accidently ripped in half, we would need an independent union rep to make the call whether it is one or two balls.

 

[Si modo]

Thought crimes. I never thought it possible.










(I hope that's a legal thought to have admitted to. )

 

[goldcatt]

How many cotton balls? Littering is a per piece crime.
If a $50 fine and 1000 cotton balls.... well you do the math.

Sounds about right. That's the crime, that's the punishment, that's what they should get.

 

[manifold]

FYI: Most littering fines have a max.


Also, if their lawyer is any good at all, he'll get the entire thing counted as a single incidence of littering.

 

[goldcatt]

Of course. With a few hours of community service picking up litter in place of the fine, probably. It's a summary offense most places. But they should be charged with the appropriate number of counts of the appropriate crime and go from there. A felony for tossing cotton balls on the ground?

 

[manifold]

Of course. With a few hours of community service picking up litter in place of the fine, probably. It's a summary offense most places. But they should be charged with the appropriate number of counts of the appropriate crime and go from there. A felony for tossing cotton balls on the ground?

Exactly. Making this a felony case is the lunacy referred to in the thread title.


As for the dillholes that like to flick cigarette butts out of their car windows, maybe a felony charge would be appropriate.

 

[slackjawed]

Of course. With a few hours of community service picking up litter in place of the fine, probably. It's a summary offense most places. But they should be charged with the appropriate number of counts of the appropriate crime and go from there. A felony for tossing cotton balls on the ground?

Exactly. Making this a felony case is the lunacy referred to in the thread title.


As for the dillholes that like to flick cigarette butts out of their car windows, maybe a felony charge would be appropriate.

That actually is a felony here in Arizona, if the cigarette is lit. The charge is arson, or attempted arson. As you can imagine, it gets dry and windy here and is quite easy to start a fire that quickly gets out of control.
I worked as a wrangler a few years ago in Dragoon, down in the low hot desert. Someone dropped a lit cigarette butt that burned down I10 for 3 miles, both sides and the median, before it ran out of fuel and burned itself out.
If it isn't lit, it is just littering here, which is not a felony. Oh, and enforcement is spotty as well.
Now, I could go along with tossing a lit cigarette butt out the window as hate crime if it was done to burn out a specific group of people.