“Dershowitz seemed to suggest that the very idea of a hate crime is constitutionally dubious. It’s an Orwellian concept wherein the ideological component of an ordinary crime is singled out for special punishment over and above the underlying crime itself.”
Hate crimes lead to hate speech which, in turn, leads to offensive speech which, when prosecuted as it is in Canada and much of Europe, leads to the effective repeal of our First Amendment.
“It’s an Orwellian concept wherein the ideological component of an ordinary crime is singled out for special punishment over and above the underlying crime itself.”
I’m not sure that this is the best argument against the concept of “hate crimes”. What distinguishes “murder” from “manslaughter”, for example, other that the perpetrator’s state of mind?