Question Why is the classification of hate crime important?

[Hadeeqa Khan]

When hate crimes occur, an entire community can feel threatened.
Defining an act as a hate crime can reassure those within a community that they are protected, says Janice Iwama, of American University in Washington.
If hate crimes are not recognised, she says, people may feel as though the law does not extend to them, or not in the same way: "They can be attacked, and nobody's going to anything about it."
Other legal experts agree that the designation of hate crime is important for social and cultural reasons, too.
Jordan Blair Woods, a professor at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, says that calling an offence as a hate crime, in the legal sense, goes beyond the question of sentencing: "It's not just: does a person get more or fewer years behind bars?'.
"The effects of this type of violence bleeds out, into an entire community. To have this type of violence recognised is part of being included. It shows that a group is recognised, not only by the government but also by the general community."

 

[Fatima Rizvi]

I think anybody wielding a gun and letting off rounds is a hate crime.....its very simple folks. Ban the guns. When will it sink in. It isn't perfect but the last major shooting we had was in the 90s.......nobody should have the right to walk about with life taking equipment. It'll just keep happening and tbh its boring to watch when the answer is so very simple.

 

[imran ali]

What if people of multiple ethnicities were killed? Is that still considered a hate crime? Because the spa shooting was not one. How about instead of spreading fear mongering, you gather the whole story first. That’s something a lot of the fake news networks have in common though.

 

[Junaid zaid]

Why the word hate in these people minds they must be stressful or out of their minds once a peaceful world smeared by these crazy people!!!

 

[Zohaib]

If a WHATEVER person intentionally assaults, injures, murders another WHATEVER person, OBVIOUSLY hate was involved, regardless of anyone's race
"Hate crime" is just an unnecessary ADD ON to criminal charges. A HUMAN still committed murder & should still get the death penalty REGARDLESS OF HATE CRIME or not.

 

[Waleed Zaya]

Aren't all crimes hate? Seriously, do you stab someone while telling them how sweet and kind they are? Is their heart full of love and joy when they take a life? No. They are full of hate. So why is it, if a white man stabs another white man because they hate them because they are fat...then it's just a regular ole crime...but if he stabbed a black man because he's black, then that's worse? Give me a break.

 

[Zafar faheem]

And here we have the fatal flaw with the concept of hate crimes. The media and self-proclaimed experts are saying that this man acted out of racial hatred. This man is saying that it was a sexual issue and he was trying to eliminate temptation.

 

[Sadia Atif]

Hate is hate, the scramble to find blame by both the media and activists has been incredibly divisive and has benefited nobody.

 

[Tafakhar Ijaz]

A hate crime is shooting people. That’s fairly simple. Why don’t they just set that standard and it covers all people.

 

[Waqas Malik]

A hate crime (also known as a bias-motivated crime or bias crime)[1] is a prejudice-motivated crime which occurs when a perpetrator targets a victim because of their membership (or perceived membership) of a certain social group or racial demographic.

Examples of such groups can include, and are almost exclusively limited to ethnicity, disability, language, nationality, physical appearance, religion, gender identity or sexual orientation.[2][3][4] Non-criminal actions that are motivated by these reasons are often called "bias incidents".

"Hate crime" generally refers to criminal acts which are seen to have been motivated by bias against one or more of the social groups listed above, or by bias against their derivatives. Incidents may involve physical assault, homicide, damage to property, bullying, harassment, verbal abuse (which includes slurs) or insults, mate crime or offensive graffiti or letters (hate mail).[5]

A hate crime law is a law intended to deter bias-motivated violence.[6] Hate crime laws are distinct from laws against hate speech: hate crime laws enhance the penalties associated with conduct which is already criminal under other laws, while hate speech laws criminalize a category of speech.

 

[Hadeeqa Khan]

The effects of this type of violence bleed out, into an entire community. To have this type of violence recognised is part of being included. It shows that a group is recognised, not only by the government but also by the general community."