It didn’t take long for the topic of hate crimes to jump into the spotlight following the murder which happened at the Holocaust Museum.
I’m one of those conservative “stick in the mud thinkers” who believe charging a person with murder is sufficient; but for some, to make sure everyone knows it was a very bad thing to do, there is the need to add that most horrible of all crimes as a sure ticket to hell, hate crime. In the words of a friend who used to sell furniture at the same place my dad worked, “What a crock!”.
Sure enough, in a commentary on CNN’s website, Ruben Navarrette Jr., had a piece on hate crimes full of racial overtones.
“My view is that hate crimes deserve special punishment because they don't just victimize whoever they're aimed at; they're intended to send a message, and they terrorize the whole society.”
That pretty much covers “feel good legislation” that has no business becoming law; that word “intended” holds so much interpretation as to make it limitless. Hate crime by definition requires a giant leap of assumption, going past an action which is already listed as criminal and prosecutable. To include hate in “beyond a reasonable doubt” category places an enormous burden of proof on things which are speculative at best. Why not keep it simple and rely on laws which already serve to bring criminals to justice? Stop spreading manure on the steps of the court house simply to impress everyone with how much better we feel now that we got some hateful person off the streets.
The use of adding Hate Crime to an already despicable crime such as murder sanitizes the crime of murder to a certain degree. Those “other murders” where some insignificant White person with no particular ethnic origin was exterminated from society must have been done with careless abandon rather than the ones which require hate such as, the ones in which a Latino, a Jew or an African-American were singled out because they were a part of a minority race or ethnic group. Those other murders must not be as heinous because they don’t qualify for that added Hate Crime enhancement. This whole Hate Crime nonsense is nothing more than sanctioned racism.
Now we can find him guilty of murder and send him to prison for life, let him out on the streets after a few years to show we are compassionate humans; but no, he had the hate crime star on his conviction so he will have to serve his full sentence? Yea, right! This is all pure BS!
You want to fix the system, just a little? Go read about the young “alleged” career criminals up in Philadelphia who ran over and killed a mother and three children while escaping after a robbery . You want to fix the system; just a little, then put criminals behind bars and keep them there long enough to make a difference.
I guess I must be hateful for wanting to keep convicted criminals off the street; add me to the list of folks needing constant surveillance, one of the whacko conservatives who might go “postal” while visiting the Monet Exhibit simply because I might not appreciate impressionism. I’m all for enforcement of criminal laws; as for Hate Crimes, don’t step in it.
“The driver of the car, Donta Cradock, and the man who fled on the motorcycle, Ivan Rodriguez, have been charged with murder, armed robbery, assault and related offenses, police said.
Sure enough, in a commentary on CNN’s website, Ruben Navarrette Jr., had a piece on hate crimes full of racial overtones.
“My view is that hate crimes deserve special punishment because they don't just victimize whoever they're aimed at; they're intended to send a message, and they terrorize the whole society.”
That pretty much covers “feel good legislation” that has no business becoming law; that word “intended” holds so much interpretation as to make it limitless. Hate crime by definition requires a giant leap of assumption, going past an action which is already listed as criminal and prosecutable. To include hate in “beyond a reasonable doubt” category places an enormous burden of proof on things which are speculative at best. Why not keep it simple and rely on laws which already serve to bring criminals to justice? Stop spreading manure on the steps of the court house simply to impress everyone with how much better we feel now that we got some hateful person off the streets.
The use of adding Hate Crime to an already despicable crime such as murder sanitizes the crime of murder to a certain degree. Those “other murders” where some insignificant White person with no particular ethnic origin was exterminated from society must have been done with careless abandon rather than the ones which require hate such as, the ones in which a Latino, a Jew or an African-American were singled out because they were a part of a minority race or ethnic group. Those other murders must not be as heinous because they don’t qualify for that added Hate Crime enhancement. This whole Hate Crime nonsense is nothing more than sanctioned racism.
Now we can find him guilty of murder and send him to prison for life, let him out on the streets after a few years to show we are compassionate humans; but no, he had the hate crime star on his conviction so he will have to serve his full sentence? Yea, right! This is all pure BS!
You want to fix the system, just a little? Go read about the young “alleged” career criminals up in Philadelphia who ran over and killed a mother and three children while escaping after a robbery . You want to fix the system; just a little, then put criminals behind bars and keep them there long enough to make a difference.
I guess I must be hateful for wanting to keep convicted criminals off the street; add me to the list of folks needing constant surveillance, one of the whacko conservatives who might go “postal” while visiting the Monet Exhibit simply because I might not appreciate impressionism. I’m all for enforcement of criminal laws; as for Hate Crimes, don’t step in it.
“The driver of the car, Donta Cradock, and the man who fled on the motorcycle, Ivan Rodriguez, have been charged with murder, armed robbery, assault and related offenses, police said.
Cradock, 18, and Rodriguez, 20, have long criminal records and already had bench warrants out for their arrests, but police said it wasn't immediately clear for what offenses. Cradock has eight prior arrests on charges including assault, burglary and weapon possession; Rodriguez has five prior arrests on charges including car theft and criminal mischief.”
These career criminals shouldn’t have been on the street. The story didn’t specify that these fine fellows had been convicted of assault, burglary, weapon possession, criminal mischief and auto theft; however, and this makes me wonder, no mention was made that those crimes were “alleged”. Any one of those major crimes mentioned should have made for a lengthy prison sentence, not so much to “rehabilitate” the criminal; no, to keep that scum off the streets and make society a better place to live.
Image is Claude Monet’s Woman with Parasol.
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