Hate Crimes Should NOT be Punished Differently than Other Crimes
Hate crimes should not be punished differently than other crimes. The actual crime should be punished, not the reasoning behind it. The idea of punishing crimes differently based on victims might make some people or groups feel that others are more protected or valued than they are. The concept of punishing crimes differently because of motive is senseless, unnecessary, and an injustice.
Again, the actual crime should be punished not the reasoning behind it. Murder is murder, robbery is robbery, rape is rape, regardless of motive. For example, Person A and Person B both assault innocent people. But while beating the life out of his victim, Person B calls him a "Nigger." His crime is considered a hate crime. Consequently, his crime will receive harsher punishment. Despite why the crime took place, the point is that a crime took place. No matter why the victim is chosen, he or she was still harmed, the family is still going to grieve, and someone must be punished. Whether a person is killed for money or drugs or out of hate or prejudice, the fact still remains that he or she has been killed. With hate crime laws, the hate is being looked at, more so than the crime itself. Even though hate is a terrible thing to have in your heart, all Americans have the right to hate whatever or who ever they want. Besides, if officials start punishing hate or unholy thoughts, they might as well make a new category of crime— thought crime. If this line of thinking were acted upon, then half of America would be behind bars.
As stated above, the idea of punishing crimes differently based on the victim might make some people or groups feel as if others are more prot...
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...ce about committing a crime. But lawmakers failed to see that this is the point of any law. Look at how much crime this country has. That is part of the reason why many states reinstated the death penalty—because people were supposed to think twice about committing crimes. Obviously, these laws are not doing their job. The government reported 97 executions this year alone, up from 68 in 1998 and 74 executions in 1997 (Johnson 1). Officials should rethink their strategies. If laws already exist for a certain crime, regardless of whether or not it is a hate crime, then those laws should be used. Laws should not be changed to fit individual situations.
In conclusion, hate crimes should be punished no differently than other crimes. The effects are the same. The crime is basically the same. The family experiences the same trauma and the punishment should be the same.
Racial discrimination has been an immense problem in our society for a very long time. The fact that the race of a victim plays a role in his or her sentencing is appalling. Discrimination within our society needs to come to an end. It’s frightening to think that if you are a minority facing a capital punishment case, which you might be found guilty only because of the color of your skin.
Hate crimes are terrible things that are becoming more and more common in America because people don’t like the way they look or feel. The purpose of the “ Debate: What is a Hate Crime” is to teach people of a crime that is becoming quite important in the society.
Richard Wright uses numerous of visual imagery throughout the book Native Son. An example would be Bigger putting Mary in the trunk. “He stood up and caught hold of the handles of the trunk and pulled. The trunk would not move. He was weak and his hands were slippery with sweat.” (90) Another visual image would be the killing of Mary Dalton that was on accident. Bigger trying not to get caught with a white girl. “Frantically, he caught a corner of the pillow and brought it to her lips. He had to stop her from mumbling, or he would be caught.” (85) Also Bigger felt Mary fighting back when he was trying to keep her quite “For a long time he felt the sharp pain of her fingernails biting into his wrist.” (86) Bigger didn’t want anybody to know that Mary was dead or that he killed her so he’s trying to get rid of the evidence and put her in the furnace “ He went to the door of the furnace and paused. The fire seethed ought he to put her in
Death Penalty is an effective deterrent to crime “The eyes of a psychopath are a chilling sight. I have looked into the eyes of more than one cold blooded murderer- and wished them dead.” (Landau) The Death Penalty is used in rapists, murderers, and other high crimes. Many people say it works great to keep crime underway. The Death Penalty is a cruel and unusual punishment mostly used against the poor and minorities. “Twelve percent of americans are black. Thirty percent of them are on death row” (Prejean) The death penalty has been used against the poor and minorities for quite some time.
When the topic of hate and bias crime legislation is brought up two justifications commonly come to mind. In her article entitled “Why Liberals Should Hate ‘Hate Crime Legislation” author Heidi M. Hurd discusses the courts and states views that those who commit hate and bias crimes ought to be more severely punished. She takes into consideration both sides of the argument to determine the validity of each but ultimately ends the article in hopes to have persuaded the reader into understanding and agreeing with her view that laws concerning the punishment of hate and bias laws should not be codified. Hate crime is described as a violent, prejudice crime that occurs when a victim is targeted because of their membership in a specific group. The types of crime can vary from physical assault, vandalism, harassment or hate speech. Throughout the article Hurd tried to defend her view and explain why there should be no difference of punishment for similar crimes no matter the reason behind it. Her reason behind her article came from the law that President Obama signed in 2009 declaring that crimes committed with hatred or prejudice should have more sever punishments. While the court has their own views to justify their reasoning behind such decisions, in the article Hurd brings up points and facts to prove the wrongfulness of creating such a law. However, though Hurd has made her views clear in the following essay I will discuss reasons why the penalties are justifiable, why they should receive the same degree of punishment, less punishment and my personal view on the topic.
Audience relevance: The United States is one Nation and that we believe that if you commit any crime you must be punished. If you commit a crime than you should be punish not murder. The death penalty is not a punishment. Also the Death Penalty is costing many of us money without even knowing.
The problems caused by domestic violence become more and more serious across the time. Compare with the incidents like car accidents and rape, there are more women getting hurt because of domestic violence. Many researches were carried out to understand men's domestic violence and some of the researchers suggested that the perpetrators of the domestic violence, abuse their partner due to their experience of rejection and shame. Thus, a rejection-abuse cycle existed (Brown, James, & Taylor, 2010). There are four steps in the cycle, which the sense of rejection of man make up a threat to self, leading to a defend against this threat and then results in abusive behaviour.
Kite Runner depicts the story of Amir, a boy living in Afghanistan, and his journey throughout life. He experiences periods of happiness, sorrow, and confusion as he matures. Amir is shocked by atrocities and blessed by beneficial relationships both in his homeland and the United States. Reviewers have chosen sides and waged a war of words against one another over the notoriety of the book. Many critics of Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, argue that the novel would not have reached a lofty level of success if the U.S. had not had recent dealings with the Middle East, yet other critics accurately relate the novel’s success to its internal aspects.
Although proponents of hate crimes have some valid points I still remain in disagreement because when it comes to hate crimes their seems to be more questions then answers and there also seems to be a lot of uncertainty within the law itself. Hate crime laws should no longer exist in are justice system because every violent crime involves an element of hate and it is impossible to prove a person’s motive or hate in the court of law.
Like I’ve said before, those with similarities of people victimized by hate crime are also affected, showing us that these crimes are an issue in our world. Hate crimes are violent actions motivated by a bias. They have almost always been apart of history, but that doesn’t make them okay. Hate crime rates have risen and lowered, but it doesn’t guarantee that it’s going away. Hate crimes don’t just affect one person- they can affect anyone with similar qualities of the victim. So please, don’t go setting your neighbor’s house on fire because you don’t like their skin color or religion, you could affect more people than you think.
Hate crimes are not a new concept for society, because hate crimes have always been around. While the study of hate crimes and the laws that have been passed because of hate crimes is relatively new, hate crimes have always been around. Hate crimes were committed as far back as the 1800’s and even back to The Civil War. Hate crimes are prevalent in society today just like they were in the past; because whether the crimes are aimed towards Muslims, the gay community, or any other minority group; they are fueled by something that every person has come into contact with- prejudice. Prejudice is defined as a preconceived thought or opinion about someone. While prejudice can be positive, in the concept of hate crimes they are negative feelings, thoughts, or opinions that are aimed towards a certain religious, ethnic, race, or even sexual orientation group. The typical definition of hate crime is that a crime has been committed by a majority member against a minority member simply because the victim was a minority. However, as of recent the definition has been expanded to allow for any crime committed by bias towards the victim’s social group such as anti-gay or anti-lesbian. Hate crimes are an extreme, potential effect due to prejudice and discrimination towards someone based on ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation. These crimes are committed against an individual or a group of individuals based solely on the fact that they are part of a group that the offender doesn’t approve of whether it is because they are a different race or following an alternative lifestyle. While the hate crimes are not something that is new in society because prejudice has always been around, the concept of a bias-crime and the legal precedent that it ha...
The argument from design discussion occurs in parts two through five of the Dialogues, and begins with Demea professing that what needs to be questioned is God’s nature, not his existence, since all three of the members already agree that God exists. He says that humans are weak and will never be able to understand God’s nature, stating “finite, weak, and blind creatures, we ought to humble ourselves in his august presence, and, conscious of our frailties, adore in silence his infinite perfections, which eye has not seen, ear has not heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man to perceive” (Hume 607). By this, Demea means that understanding God’s nature is beyond the capacity of human understanding, and humans will never have a clear answer regarding it. Philo agrees with Demea on this idea, but also says that he does not assume that God is like humans in any way at all. To defend his argument, he says “Wisdom, thought, design, knowledge— these we justly ascribe to him, because these words are h...
A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte is one of the most well-known paintings of the 19th century. Georges Pierre Seurat started this painting in 1884 and it took him two years to perfect his portrayal of Parisian life in the park on the Seine River of Paris. Currently on display in the Art Institute of Chicago, this painting continues to draw interest and catch spectators’ eyes with its lively colors and unique style.
Hate crime is still being committed today and many believe that it would benefit victims and communities if hate crimes were punished more severely. However, hate crimes should not be punished more severely than other crimes that are motivated for other reasons; although the motivation (personal belief) and violence that constitute a hate crime are horrendous, criminals should be prosecuted for their wrongdoing, not for their beliefs. The idea that criminals should be punished more severely than crimes that are motivated by greed, anger, revenge is not acceptable. The potential motivations that were just given can constitute several crimes, like, murder. The issue (which, in my opinion, makes a good argument) is that it ‘’creates complicated moral problems by making it appear as if a murder is "worse" when committed because of the victim's race, religion, or sexual orientation.’’ (Hate crime laws, 2014) Murder is one the worst crimes that can be committed and it can have several motives and reasons behind it. Allowing hate crimes to be punished more severely or stating that hate crime is more ‘’aggressive’’ and ‘’brutal’’ is not fair to other victims and treats them
The death penalty refers to a legal process where a criminal gets the punishment of execution due to committing crimes like murder, drug trafficking or rape. The proponents believe that it is a fair form of punishment and should be mandatory. Personally, I disagree that the death penalty should be mandatory for murderers as it will promote social insecurity; and is a form of an inhumane act that promotes violence against violence.