Why Do Hate Crimes Enhance Punishment?

In numerous parts of the country, young African American and Hispanic males have been attacked by white youths who called themselves “The Arm Of the Right.” This particular group encourages and claims that only by assaulting and battering minority group members will the nation be cleansed. By encouraging such behavior, they are promoting a sense of fear and inferiority amongst those who are not fit to be “white.” In order to approach this matter with caution, certain issues need to be taken into account. Some of these issues include: “the reason for determining an offense already covered by the criminal law as hate/bias crime, the danger of enhancing penalties as a result of thoughts rather than focusing on behavior; the possibility of determining

Hate crimes have increased over the years and it cannot be left unattended. Under the hate crime laws, any hate crime resulting in violence or causing harm will be punished more severely. Taking other laws into consideration, sentences are already enhanced for certain groups. If other groups can enhance punishment by their criteria than by all means hate crime should be subjected to enhanced punishment. The three important words that separate a hate crime from crime is “motivated by hate”. If the hate crime leads to fear and vulnerability for victims. By having legislations for hate crimes, the victims or particular groups prone to being victims are protected. Some of the people are mistaken to be of a particular group that could lead to hate crime towards that person. However, this is still considered to be a hate crime because of the against a particular group and person. Not all crime expressing hate are hate crime and it is crucial to determine whether expression of hate violates the first amendment as well as the hate legislations. Many hate crime victims of hate crime tend to not report these offenses to the police because of the society's perspective toward the reason of being a victim. An example of this would be a person who is attracted to the same sex and lives in an area where being gay is viewed negatively. He becomes a victim of gender bias hate crime but does

cases. Matthew Shepard, who was gay, was brutally beaten and tied to a fence in Wyoming by two males and left to die. James Byrd, Jr., a black male, was tied to a truck and dragged to death. Many other forms of expressing crime have been part of the U.S. history such as the burning of the cross and vandalizing a religious institution. The R.A.V. v. St. Paul, Minn. case of 1992, where several teenagers burned a cross on a black family’s lawn, was decided to be unconstitutional. The decision was held with 9-0 votes for R.A.V., because the Supreme Court freedom of speech of an individual is protected by the first amendment and the state cannot prohibit such rights merely due to the expression of thoughts. In Wisconsin v. Mitchell (1993), a black man, Mitchell, after watching Mississippi Burning beat up a young white boy. The boy was hospitalized and Mitchell was charged with hate crime . The Supreme Court stated that the first amendment protected speech, not violence or aggravated