Yes, the media inundated us for weeks with a multitude
of "former" profilers. All of whom were wrong! Anyone
who examines what profilers do realizes immediately that
it is 60% common sense (looking at past criminal data
for commonalities) and 40% guesswork. These people pose
as "experts" but are just poseurs. On the main subject,
however, there are many legal scholars and criminologists
who believe there should be no separate legal category
for "hate crimes". This gets into the murky area of
motives and intent and many feel that if A murders B
A should receive the due penalty for murder -- regardless
of whether A didn't like B's ethnic, etc. group. And
should NOT receive a more or less severe penalty based
on speculation about subliminal motives. In other words,
do TIME FOR THE CRIME COMITTED and don't start introducing
gradations and separate penalty schemes.
Motives are entirely relevant because they point to a propensity to commit the acts again.