Hate crime laws protect innocence

editorial cartoon by Stephanie Lesniak
editorial cartoon by Stephanie Lesniak

It is argued that every crime is a hate crime. Congress created the Hate Crimes Statistics Act of 1990 and categorizes hate crimes as crimes based on race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation or physical or mental disability.

According to the Attorney General Hate Crimes Report, more than 2,000 people were reportedly victims of a hate crime in California in 1997. This excludes unreported cases. Of the reported hate crimes, 67.2 percent were motivated by race/ethnicity, 13.2 percent by religion, 19.5 percent by sexual orientation and 0.1 percent by physical/mental disability. Approximately three victims were murdered. Though this number is not large, three people could be alive, had it not been for their uncontrollable characteristics of race, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation. To families of the murder victims, even one victim is significant.

With the exception of nine states, the United States has some form of penalty-enhancement hate crime laws. The nine which do not include New Mexico, Kansas, Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, South Carolina, Georgia, New York and Wyoming.

The Libertarian Party opposes hate crime laws because “the government shouldn’t discriminate when it comes to justice,” said David Bergland, the party’s national chairman. “Every violent crime is a hate crime, and is already covered by existing laws. Law enforcement should focus on stopping crimes in general, not punishing crimes which happen to be politically incorrect.”

Every state needs hate crime laws to protect its citizens. Granted, a crime is a crime, murder is murder, but hate crime laws will add more penalties and will hopefully make punishments more severe for assailants. Currently, most punishments entail only a slap on the wrist.

“[In] some states, if murder is a hate crime, the sentence is increased. For example, with different degrees of murder, different sentences apply … sentences with parole, without parole, execution,” said Geoffrey Kors, civil rights attorney who supports the implementation of hate crime laws.

Hate crime laws are necessary in protecting the innocent. Even if laws are not a deterrent to their offenders, hate crime laws could help assure that they are imprisoned for a long time. Hate crimes are the most inexcusable kind. Nothing can justify them, and nothing on the victim’s behalf can prevent them from being targeted. Hate crime laws are the only shield they have, depending on what state they live in.

Other Stories

Unsigned editorials represent the opinion of the Campus Times Editorial Board.

Stephanie Lesniak

Latest Stories

Related articles

Shooting in Pomona leaves one dead and 5 injured

A Pomona warehouse party last Friday, attended by University of La Verne students, turned deadly when shots were fired, leaving five wounded and one dead.

Racial slurs reported in Citrus dorm

A racial slur against the Black community was found written on doors and whiteboards in the University of La Verne’s Citrus Residence Hall, President Devorah Lieberman told the community in a late Thursday email. 

AAPI question and answer panel

University of La Verne students joined Elleni Koulos, Gwendolyn McInnes, Brent Blumenthal and Ryan Ingram to discuss the proper ways to be an ally to the Asian American and Pacific Islander community amid the extreme wave of hate crimes Monday via Zoom

Virginia takes initiative to support LGBT rights

Virginia has taken a step in the right direction becoming the 13th state, and first state in the South, to ban gay and transgender panic as a defense for murder or manslaughter.