There has been a lot of talk in recent years about hate crime legislation.

Do we
really need them? Are they at all necessary? Do they just give people unfair sentences? I
really didnt give this issue much thought until recently, because of the big gay rights
movement. At first I took a position similar to that of Tish Durkin.
She argues in her editorial in the New York Times called, Focus on the Crime, Not
the Victim that we should only look at the crime that was commited when convicting a
criminal. She says that an added penalty, because something was classified as a hate
crime is absurd. Her logic seems correct. Why should we punish someone for there
thoughts? Is a maniac who opens fire in a shopping mall less objectionable than a
maniac who opens fire in a gay club (Durkin)? I agreed with this argument very strongly
until recently.
The point that Durkin is making is that hate crime laws give greater value to some
human lives over others, because of the stronger penalties. But she is missing the true
point of hate crime laws. The laws dont give greater value to the life of the victim, they
simply protect the group that was targeted by the criminal. Going back to the example
that she wrote about the maniac; If the person opened fire on a gay club simply because
the people were gay, then the entire gay community is at risk and that should be
addressed in court. If the maniac simply opened fire at the mall, then there isnt that
added factor that there would have been if it was a hate crime. She also mentions at the
very end of the article that what matters is Tyler Clementi was a human being, and that
he was mercilessly spied on and humiliated. In a sane society, thats crime enough

(Turkin). No that is not crime enough, because the person who commited the crime did it
not only as an attack on him, but, as an attack on all gay people.
Jim Hennigan makes an excellent point in his essay called, Is hate a Crime? He
says that As a society, we cannot allow entire classes of people to be terrorized by the
intimidating messages sent by criminals engaged in their rogue propaganda campaigns
(4). People who commit hate crimes are essentially sending a message to terrorize people
of that particular group. If the person is only punished for the direct crime then the
broader message is ignored (Hennigan, 4). If someone is killed for his wallet, that is
terrible crime, but if a man is lynched for being black then all blacks are in jeopardy. The
heightened penalty is society showing that crimes commited for the intent of intimidating
entire groups of people is not tolerable. (Hennigan, 4)
Hate crimes laws address principals that we hold dear in our society, mainly the
fact that everyone is equal, but if someone is being attacked simply because they are
Muslim, then Muslims are not protected equally in our society. Therefore we need Hate
crime laws, because they combat the inequality that the groups that are attacked face. Its
not that hate crime laws give the lives of gays, blacks, Muslims and other groups greater
value, its that they address the issue created by the criminal. Its the people who live and
who were collaterally attacked- and who the perpetrator fully intended to attack
collaterally- who make these crimes different in a meaningful way (Hennigan, 3). That
is the point that Durkin is missing. She just sees the crime, and not the broader context of
the crime. Certain crimes pose a bigger threat to our society then others, and that is why
they are looked at differently.

One might say that hate crime laws violate the equal protection clause of the
constitution, because they prosecute people for their thoughts. This is simply no true.
Hate crimes do the exact opposite, they help keep intact the equal protection that all
citizens should have under the law. We are all different in many ways, and as a civilized
society it is our obligation to make sure that all groups of people are treated equally; that
is why hate crime laws are necessary and essential.

Bibliography
Durkin, Tish. "Focus on the Crime, Not the Victim." New York Times 7/3/
2012, Web. 3/5/2014
Hennigan, Jim. "Is Hate A Crime." Not In Our Town. , 4/28/2009. Web.
3/5/2014