Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

Is this a hate crime?

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When a group of people of one race violently and viciously attack and beat a person of another race (with race as a clear motive) until they are bloody and unconscious, it this a “HATE” crime or simply a crime?

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  1. a crime in which the defendant intentionally selects a victim, or in the case of a property crime, the property that is the object of the crime, because of the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, gender, disability, or sexual orientation of any person.

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    p>The FBI defines a hate crime as:

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    a criminal offense committed against a person, property or society which is motivated, in whole or in part, by the offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or ethnicity/national origin.

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    p>Furthermore, the hate crimes page on Religioustolerance.org states

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    If a thug beats up a randomly selected victim, the assault would not be considered a hate crime.

    If a person assaults a friend or acquaintance out of anger, the assault would not be a hate crime.

    If a thug beats up a victim who is a stranger and was selected because of their race, it would be a hate crime.

    If a person delivers a hate speech denigrating all Jews, or African-Americans, or gays, then this would not be considered a hate crime anywhere in the United States, because no criminal act has occurred. Hate speech itself is protected under the First Amendment.

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    p>Also, the FBI has 2004 hate crime stats showing, among other categories, that 998 anti-White offenses were committed, 3281 anti-Black, 97 anti-American Indian/Alaskan Native, 252 anti-Asian/Pacific Islander, and 235 committed against Multiple Races/Group.  

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    p>My unlearned opinion says yes, under the law, your hypothetical looks like a hate crime.

    • I was thinking about this law in regards to a recent violent attack in Marshfield and was wondering if the cowards who attacked the man would be charged like the Jenna 6. Both groups (Marshfield and Jenna) were of a singular racial group attacking a person of another race simply because of their race, and viscously beating them unconscious. Our society has no place for animals like this and I hope all guilty parties are prosecuted to the full extent of the law and go to prison.

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      p>At some point, it would be interesting to debate the concept of Hate Crimes since my understanding of crimes is “motive” has no bearing on the definition of a crime or whether the person is guilty or innocent. It is more often used in a trial to convince a jury of the guilt but has no legal basis. Sounds to me if someone shots you to rob you and someone else shots you to rob you (but your race determined who was going to be robbed) then they should be treated the same. But as I am not a lawyer I could be completely wrong.

      • The intent of a hate crime is often rooted in the desire to terrorize a specific portion of the population and coerce the minority group into behaving a certain way – think lynchings in the old south designed to strike fear into the Black community and White people who were for equality. As for motive and intent as it relates to jurisprudence, I’m the last person to try and expound on that, but, as always, Wikipedia discusses the issue.

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        p>The idea of hate crimes has been picked apart here before. This thread had 122 comments exploring hate crimes from different angles, and I’ll link you a comment I wrote here.

      • …distinguishing criterion differentiating murder and manslaughter.  If so, I’d say that motive is indeed operative in legal rulings and thus not irrelevant.

        • The difference between murder and manslaughter is intent (vs. accident). Motive is more of the WHY. You could drive your car down the street and suddenly decide to drive over a person. This would be Murder since you intended to hit someone with your car, but there would be no motive… I think. The WHY should not matter in ANY matter of law.

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