Posted on 07/31/2002 4:44:47 AM PDT by Behind Liberal Lines
Edited on 05/07/2004 8:00:51 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
Someone in the community has been targeted due to a core characteristic of her identity that cannot be changed.
When people in our community fear being assaulted because of who they are, the color of their skin, or who they love it can be a dangerous thing. Hate and bias-related crimes pose unique challenges for victims, law enforcement, criminal justice professionals and the media. The nature of hate and bias crimes threatens our quality of life and detrimentally affects the victim and indeed the entire community. This is why these crimes require a heightened sensitivity from the media and criminal justice professionals.
(Excerpt) Read more at theithacajournal.com ...
The author's attempt to draw some sort of distinction here between "hate" crimes and "regular" crimes is ludicrously false. Every single crime is, in fact, a crime on the theory that the act has a detrimental effect on society as a whole. This is why, for example, crimes are prosecuted in the name of "The People of the State..." and not the victim. Even so called "victimless" crimes are considered crimes precisely because they allegedly "threaten our quality of life and detrimentally affect... the entire community." This is just one more example of how these crimes are really thought crimes.
As for the author's "ten step plan" to fight hate crime, is it just me, or is this plan, with its "community reaction team" and "anonymous tipsters" even more draconian that President Bush's "Homeland Security" plans that these liberals constantly warn us about?
Of course, as I said once before, at the way things are going in Ithaca, the City of Evil, thought crime will be the only crime.
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Note also that the author calls for punishment of "hate crimes" based on someone's "core characteristic of her identity that cannot be changed."
But why should that be the standard? What if the "core characteristic" is not something that "cannot be changed" but results, for example, from the exercise of a person's constitutional rights?
For example, what if, in very liberal Ithaca, someone were to be assaulted for being a vociferous conservative or Republican? Wouldn't hatred be just as much the motive as in the case of an attack based on race or sexual orienatation? Of course, yet no hate crime legislation of which I'm aware would apply. Why?
I would consider all hate crime legislation unconstitutional, since it essentially creates thought crimes. But the hypocrisy and double standards are also so blatant.
Makes you proud to be an Amerikan.
That day is approaching faster than you think.
Look at the case of the girl who is suing her school because it violated her free speech rights to criticize homosexuality during a diversity program.
And in Ithaca, the School District has mandated that elementary school students in the first and second grades be graded on how well they "respect others of varying cultures, genders, experiences, and abilities." It's even listed on the schools' report card.
Ithaca is the City of Evil.
Because then they can criminalize opposition to homosexuality, of course.
"City of Hate Crimes" bump...
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