Posted on 11/22/2006 3:20:46 PM PST by Kitten Festival
Los Angeles County prosecutors today filed hate crimes charges against eight black teenagers accused of beating up three white women on Halloween night in a case that has startled and divided Long Beach.
Authorities said they took the action after concluding that the teens attacked and beat the women in the upscale Bixby Knolls area because they were white.
The case has been the subject of a wrenching public dialogue over the last few weeks in the racially diverse city of 460,000, with civil rights groups like the NAACP condemning the teenagers' alleged actions and the city holding a public forum meant to ease tensions. The attack occurred on a block known for fancy Halloween decorations.
According to police, a mob of mostly girls, ages 12 to 17, allegedly hurled racial insults at the women, threw small pumpkins and lemons at them, and then knocked them to the ground with kicks, punches and swings of a skateboard.
The attack left the women, two 19-year-olds and a 21-year-old bloodied and with broken bones, internal bruises and cuts, before a black passerby stopped his car and pulled their assailants away.
"What could have possibly gone through their mind to make them think this kind of behavior was OK?" asked Long Beach Police Officer Jackie Bezart. The girls, who face felony assault charges, appeared in court today.
Their attorneys said the girls are good students and have no history of violence or criminal behavior. One of the girls won a full athletic scholarship to USC and had represented the United States in a track meet in China, her attorney told the court. He urged the judge to allow the girl out of Juvenile Hall so she could take the SATs.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Hate crimes are Orwellian and scary, I will respect the hell out the first politicial to call for their removal.
Yeah. I just deleted a post because I didn't know how it would go over right now but this would be a perfect opportunity for these girls to ask that the "hate" be removed and that their attackers be charged for the actual crimes committed.
Whether one agrees or not with having crimes prosecuted as "hate," if they are going to be prosecuted at all it should be done evenhandedly.
Exactly. Charge someone with assualt, or assault and battery, or attempted murder, etc.
These girls should be charged with the first two I would suspect.
But forget about "Hate Crimes"--we shouldn't charge anyone anything for what they were thinking--just what they did.
Regardless of the hell-freezes-over situation here, hate crimes are still stupid. The perps are already being charged. What more does assigning crimes hate crimes do other than let politicians and prosecutors beat their chests.
It pits people against each other. Instead of accepting that there are good and bad people in all races it encourages taking sides IMO.
I thought it already was a crime to beat up women or even men. It's called assault or aggravated assault.
Couldn't it be argued that "hate crimes" violate the equal protection clauses of the US and state constitutions? They create super classes of people who have more protections than others, hence they create less priveleged classes that enjoy less protection.
Where's the division? Sounds like the girls' actions have been roundly condemned.
And why did the LAT feel the need to ID the race of the Good Samaritan who stopped to help? Because they think anyone reading the article might assume from the girls' action that all blacks are violent? Isn't that racist thinking?
Victims of attack share their story (Long Beach Halloween attack, charged as hate crime)
"What could have possibly gone through their mind to make them think this kind of behavior was OK?" asked Long Beach Police Officer Jackie Bezart.
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Gee I dunno, if you got out more Jackie you might find out that black people can be just as racist as white people. Yup, we're all the same under the skin there Jackie.
What planet is this cop from?
Yes, you're right, I don't agree that killing a cop should be considered more grievous than killing me.
The problem is we generally aren't tough enough on any crime.
...and they each made personal choices to NOT keep their own violence and criminal histories clean.
I like the hate crimes laws and I would expand them to include random crime. It is one thing to have some guy beat you up for some reason like a robbery. Beating up someone because they are simply existing is worse and so is random crime which is basically terrorism.
We already have something similar where we distinguish between premeditated 1st degree murder and 2nd degree.
***And why did the LAT feel the need to ID the race of the Good Samaritan who stopped to help? Because they think anyone reading the article might assume from the girls' action that all blacks are violent? Isn't that racist thinking?***
Mewzilla, it said on the original article here on FR that it was thought that it was only because he was black, and 6'2", that he was able to stop them. If it had been a white man, they might just have turned on him, also.
Did one of them continue to try to hit the unconscious girl in the head with a skate board? If so that is more than assault IMO.
You're right on the identication of the Good Samaritan. They never identify races of those who commit crimes, especially when those names give away the racial identity of the criminal.
I'm glad he was black.
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