I just love the Mobile papers. I believe they published information regarding registered sex offenders, along with their pictures, not too long ago.
Thanks for bringing this to our attention - this special victim/hate crime bill. WOW. I really had no idea what Alabama was up to on this one.
When was sexual orientation made a protected class?
I realize this was not the point of the post, but if we continue to allow this to slide into the mainstream thinking without question, eventually, it will be seen it as reality.
There are many things that separate us as people. Sexual orientation can be argued as a choice, Anne Heche as an example.
Why be a protected class? If I'm a single individual who, for the most part, is not an active hetro or homosexual, couldn't I use this protected class idea to my advantage? For example, I go into a job interview. During the interview, I see it's not going my way, so I bring up sexual orientation and mention that I'm homosexual. Then, I don't get the job. Can't I then argue that I didn't get the job due to my sexual orientation. How can they prove that I'm not homosexual?
Next can we argue that another protected class be region. I for one believe that many Americans discriminate against Southerners. Likewise, I have a bias against those from the northeast and midwest. Shouldn't Yankees have a protected class?
Higgins, you're mentioning the very problems that I have with these laws. Hate crime laws shouldn't be necessary at all. Why would it make a difference as to the criminals motive other than the degree of the crime committed (intentional/accidental/premeditated)? It's still a crime, and there are already laws to cover said crime. The fact that the victim was gay doesn't make a murder any more or less of a murder. The same goes for job discrimination, although it is hard to prove, and most large companies have thier HR and legal deparments research loopholes.
The biggest reason that (I believe) these legislators are interested in passing such laws would be that it is "feel good" legislation for an election year.
Here's what I want to know:
If a couple of straight homophobes walk into a gay bar accidentally, realize what they have done, make a nasty comment as they leave, and wind up getting their butts kicked by a group of gay men, what happens?
Do the gay men get charged with a hate crime? Do the straight men get charged with hate speech (well, not yet, but much of Europe has already moved that way)?
If a white person is killed by a black person who screamed racist names during the attack, can the victim's family get a tougher sentence because it was a hate crime?
Is it really about the hate, or it is about protecting subsets of citizens, delegating the others to second class status? Didn't we already make great efforts to move away from that system here in the south -- where it used to be a greater crime to kill a white person than a black person?
Seems as if history is doomed to repeat itself.
Passing stupid legislation and flawed legislation is nothing new on Goat Hill. Meanwhile REAL government reform and accountability legislation is either not addressed, or else we end up with something that is no more than window dressing for a gullible public. That's why I have a website dedicated to helping make Alabama the 25th state with an Initiative and Referendum (I&R) process. When we have that, voters will be able to initiate their own legislation that by-passes both the legislature and the governor and will allow voters to approve it in in a referendum. As I type, HB325 which would bring I&R to us, is in the hands of the house C&E Committee, but it will take pressure from voters on the lawmakers to get it passed. I urge everyone interested in a better state government to visit my website and join me to see how to join me in this effort
Mugging a person is mugging a person.
But beating a person specifically because of some inherit trait about that person, be it gender, race, religion, ortientation, etc., is a different crime and not because of intent.
One common defense of individuals charged with hate crime is that their actions are actually condoned by the greater community. They are simply doing what everyone else wants but lacks the courage to do. In this sense, a lot of hate crimes are done to 'send a message' to the greater community.
Most often hate crimes are more malicious and involve a number of different factors than other crimes. Matthew Shepard of Wyoming being a classic example. He was beaten, dragged around behind a truck, and crucified to a fence... if that were a more random murder it would most likely be a psychopath or a serial killer, but given who was killed by whom it was very clear that the murderers were trying to say something to the community as a whole (gays in this case) and not against some individual.
Seth,
Get a life. Matthew Shephard is not better or worse than anyone else. All crime, all murders are bad. Maybe you guys can join the conservatives who favor tough law enforcement and the death penalty. Funny how gays never get worked up about crime unless it appears to be a "hate crime" against one of them. Not to mention the fact that we now know the Matthew Shephard incident was a drug thing gone bad, and his murderers have been given the death penalty - under normal law without any "hate crimes" crap added on.
this is a damn shame that our state government waste the people's time an effort on foolisness such as this.My representative is not gonna get another vote from me on this.We have real serious problems and this is what they waste their time on?this is gving special priviledge at its worst.And as a previous poster said you never here anything from the homsexual community unless it directly affects them,why pass more dumb laws,when you murder someone it is a hate crime duh!Is there a way we can stop this!
Everyone,
I agree with most of you that this is a bad idea, but remember: Rep. Holmes has proposed this legislation before, and it has failed. Its chances of passing this time around appear to be very slim. Republicans have promised to "lock down the House" if and when the measure comes up for a vote, and I doubt very seriously that it will even attract much support from Democrats in the end. This is a very conservative state, and legislators are unlikely to pass something this controversial in an election year.
Seth,
It is true that "hate crimes" are motivated by different factors than are other crimes. (In a sense, all crimes are hate crimes, but it's not very useful to be overly-concerned about semantics. We all know what the term refers to.) However, I think that the proper way to address this type of crime is through better, more targeted law enforcement, rather than new legislation that imposes disparate penalties based on the motivation of the criminal. We should be very cautious about going down a path that gets so close to criminalizing thought, as opposed to action.
Commenting by HaloScan
