All violent crimes are hateful. How is it possible to have a non hateful murder?!

The Matthew Shepard case was one isolated crime that took place in Wyoming – a state with very low violent crime rate. There were no state hate crime laws then and no Fed Hate crime law.

So what happened – did the evil racist, homophobic Red state of Wyoming let the killers of Matthew Shepard off?

No. The criminals were prosecuted, convicted and sentenced to life in prison – they should have gotten the death penalty if less idiots PC Libs like Al Frankin had made it so difficult to get the death penalty used.

The Criminal justice system in Wyoming isn’t broken, it doesn’t need special Hate Crime laws – the good citizens of Wyoming and law enforcement officials actually enforce the laws against Murder, something that is not the case where I live now in Chicago – where we led the nation in total murders last year – over 500!

Oh, but I guess we shouldn’t be too concerned with all the murder and mayhem in Chicago – these weren’t Hate Crimes, what were they “love crimes”?

Al Frankin – you and the PC cultural Marxists really suck!

I could not have said it any better. My one issue with any bill like this is if it actually lists a specific gender, sexuality, or race. A hate crime is a hate crime. It does not matter if it is a white person killing a homosexual person, or a Mexican killing a Canadian. If the crime was motivated due to the person fitting an assumed identity, then it is a hate crime.

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@ skip hill, et. al:

//I’m Italian so if somebody robs me how come its not considered a hate crime? A crime is a crime.//

Indeed, a crime is a crime. But the example you provided is not a hate crime. The criminal who hypothetically robbed you did not rob you BECAUSE you were Italian with the INTENT to spread fear to the Italian community.

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@ Debby Miller:

//If your loved one is murdered does it make a difference that is was not random but a hate crime??//

The name of this bill is the Matthew Shepard Act. Matthew Shepard was a gay college student who was tortured and murdered by two young men for no other reason other than the fact that he was gay.

Judy Shepard, his mother, has been bravely educating why we need this bill. It matters to her, and it should matter to you.

Hate crimes are defined “when the perpetrator of the crime intentionally selects the victim because of who the victim is. Hate crimes rend the fabric of our society and fragment communities because they target an entire community or group of people, not just the individual victim.”

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@ ZNOFOB (xenophobe) and Jed:

The Matthew Shepard Act does not criminalize speech or thought. That is a lie.

It only criminalizes bias-motivated *violence.* Current law already allows speech to be used as evidence in court proving intent of a crime.

And it not only protects the LGBT community: other groups include racial groups, religious groups, and the disabled.

Personally, I don’t see the need for them, for the reasons already listed. But if the laws already exist–and for political reasons they’re not going anywhere–it certainly makes sense to add sexual orientation to the categories which the existing law effects. Obviously, this is a pretty academic line to walk, but it’s also realist. For some reason, hate crime legislation already exists, that’s the reality. Excluding sexual orientation from that legislation is unfair. Hence this bill. I would vote for this bill, but I would also entertain voting for a bill that does away with hate crimes legislation altogether.

crime = crime.

motive = who cares?

I had hopes for Al, but this…???

She told me that the hate crime bill would be used by lawyers to persecute criminals who clearly had hate as their motivation…..what difference does it make? If your loved one is murdered does it make a difference that is was not random but a hate crime?? I just don’t get why another law on top of the laws we already have is necessary…unless we are going to punish hate crimes more severely and then my question would again by why????