> From: "Nick McClure" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > And those laws are being overturned. > > Hate crime laws only deal with crimes being committed with hate as the > reason. Which I think is a load of crap, I don't see the reason to include > the persons personal feelings in the sentence.
I agree and disagree (as usual!) On one hand "Hate Crime Laws" are plain stupid. They complicate an already too complex issue and, essentailly, just let lawyers make more money by making the law to complex. (BTW: I feel this way about a HUGE number of laws. We have so many repetative, overlapping, silly laws that do nothing except compllicate the system and pay lawyers.) On the other hand I think that sentencing should take into account motives. A crime of passion perpetrated by an otherwise honest, peaceful individual should be sentenced differently than a hate-motivated lynching. However I think that the current laws allow for this. Murder is murder: it's the sentencing phase that let jurists "comment" on the actual crime. A judge can already mete out severe punishments for particularly heinous crimes -we don't need feel-good, politically correct add-on laws to do it (and if we did then the original law should be changed, not a new law created). Jim Davis ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Create robust enterprise, web RIAs. Upgrade & integrate Adobe Coldfusion MX7 with Flex 2 http://www.adobe.com/products/coldfusion/flex2/?sdid=RVJP Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:232153 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
