A Perversion of Justice - Hate Crimes Statutes

What is a hate crime? According to the Department of Justice and the FBI a hate crime “is 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.” In essence a hate crime is defined as a crime in which the motivation is one of bigotry.

I postulate that hate crimes statutes are a perversion of justice that elevate a class of victims over others and lifts the blindfold from lady justice’s eyes. Hate crimes statutes also implicitly state that all humans are not equal and certain members of the human race are more valuable than others. Finally, and possibly most perversely, hate crimes statutes are designed to punish the privately held thoughts and beliefs of the perpetrator of the crime.

Before you walk away let me explain the preceding paragraph. The Declaration of Independence starts by laying out the First Principles of this nation. It states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” This country is founded on the belief that all men are created equal. Logically then, all men are equal before the law. To enact harsher penalties for crimes committed against a certain subset of the population is to deny this principle of equality and declare that certain people have greater inherent value than others. This is no different than saying kings have a hereditary right to rule or white people have a natural right to keep slaves. All are equally offensive when viewed through the prism of “all men are created equal.” I believe that all humans are unique, precious, and of inestimable value. All human life should be rigorously defended, regardless of skin color, personal beliefs, gender, age, or any other way you wish to group people. All are created equal and all are equally precious. We owe it to each and every member of the human family to vigorously defend their unalienable rights. Hate crime statutes fly in the face of that belief by declaring that certain people are more valuable in the eyes of the law than others, and for that reason alone hate crimes statutes should be abolished.

Secondly hate crimes statues should be abolished because they lift the blindfold from lady justice’s eyes. When an individual is charged with a hate crime, the victim of the crime is not viewed as a person, but rather as member of a group. The machinery of justice then attempts to punish the perpetrator not for the crime committed against the victim, but for the crime committed against the group. This denies the real victim justice because lady justice is no longer hearing his case, but is looking at the group the victim represents. Crimes are not committed against groups. Crimes are committed against individuals. Crimes are violations of an INDIVIDUAL’S rights. To treat the crime as anything other than that is to deny justice to the victim.

Finally hate crimes statutes should be abolished because they put the defendant’s personal beliefs on trial. In theory this is a country where you are free to believe and think whatever you wish to believe or think, regardless of how that aligns with societal norms. When a defendant is charged with a hate crime, his private beliefs and ideas are put on trial and if he is found guilty, then he is punished for those beliefs and ideas. Crimes, by their very nature, require conscious action on the part of the perpetrator. To put someone on trial for their thoughts is not only absurd, it is unconstitutional. Thinking about robbing a bank is not a crime; walking into a bank with a weapon and committing a robbery is. In a free society, based on the rule of law, you may believe whatever you chose, no matter how offensive those beliefs may be. What you are not allowed to do is to act in such a way as to violate the rights of others. Hate crimes statutes violate this principle by putting the defendant’s private beliefs on trial.

For these reasons I disagree with the notion of “hate crimes”. All crimes are filled with hate and disregard for the victim. Justice should not be denied to the victims of any crime. Victims are individuals and are entitled to see justice served on an individual basis. We, as a society based on the rule of law, owe them no less. Likewise, defendants deserve a speedy and fair trial of their actions and not their personal beliefs. All men are created equal and all men are equally entitled to be fairly judged for their actions by the law.