Agreed. As I was taught in law school, crime has 2 elements.
actus reus - the physical act
mens rea - the guilty mind. Note it DOES NOT MATTER if the perp committed the crime because they wanted the money or because the victim is of a different ethnic group they hate or if the victim wore purple shoes and the criminal just hated purple shoes. They are in every case, GUILTY! They did it. They intended to do it. They were acting of their own volition. The requirements of mens rea are met in all of the above scenarios.
So why are some categories punished more than others? Why is the crime worse if for example the criminal did it for reasons of race hate than for envy at the victims’ wealth?
Politics. That is the only answer. If those who write the law politically favor your group then you get special protections and there are increased punishments for attacking members of the group for their membership of the politically favored group than there would be for attacking others. Ridiculous. That IMO, violates equal justice and all “hate crimes” laws should be ruled unconstitutional for that reason. I argued this in law school almost 30 years ago. None of my professors was able to come up with a reasonable answer why this was anything other than politics and why it was not unequal justice.
It’s good to hear the opinion of a pro.