The idea behind hate crime laws is rather simple, a hate crime affects not just one person but the entire group that they are included in. A burning cross is a symbol against all African Americans, it's sent like a message to all people of that minority. Perhaps a better example or one that really affected me was the recent "GAY � Got A.I.D.S. Yet?" Yet that wasn't directed at any singular person, it was directed at anyone who is attracted to the same-sex. Hate crimes occur completely regardless of who the actual victims are, they occur in reference to what the victims are. Granted, the individual names make the paper, but the whole minority community feels the threat and the hatred/ignorance of the act.
In my neighborhood, there used to be neighbors that did not like my family. One night, they egged my house. That action was directly against who my parents are. It had nothing to do with the fact that we're white or anything else about us, it was simply that the neighbors did not like us.
Hate crime laws are a way of changing what society once believed. Once upon a time, think of how African Americans were treated, or Chinese, or Native Americans or almost any other minority group simply because they are that, a minority. Hate crime laws in a sense say "no, that's not right, everyone should be treated equally despite their religion, race, sex, age, sexual orientation or anything else." I don't know if they're "consistent with the principles of the American judicial system" but they're just, they're right.
Becky Berscheid
Biology Major, HURL Minor
Senior
