I didn't articulate my ideas very clearly. Sorry. I didn't
mean to suggest that motives have no bearing in a criminal
case. Obviously they do and the law clearly recognizes
that. I was merely trying to state -- as have many legal
scholars and criminologists - that establishing a separate
legal category for "hate crimes" suggests that somehow a
murder (to pick an example) should be punished by a harsher
standard than some other "ordinary" murder -- regardless
of whatever motives were in play in either case. I hope
that clears it up. To put it crudely, a damned murder is
a damned murder!
In that case, I completely agree. Cheers
Do you think that spraypainting a swastika on the wall of a synagogue should be treated the same as spraypainting a "tag" on the wall of a warehouse, then?