“Hate Crime” laws criminalize ideas
The House recently voted to expand federal “hate crimes” to include those committed because of the victim’s sexual orientation. The New York State legislature succinctly stated the case for these laws in its Hate Crimes Act of 2000: “Crimes motivated by invidious hatred toward particular groups not only harm individual victims but send a powerful message of intolerance and discrimination to all members of the group to which the victim belongs.” Thus, if someone commits a crime motivated by an idea the government deems “hateful,” he faces special penalties.
Despite the denials of “hate crime” law supporters, this criminalizes certain ideas. If the government can punish a criminal more harshly based on the “message of intolerance and discrimination” he sends through his crime, then the inevitable conclusion is that sending a “message of intolerance and discrimination” is a crime. Most Western countries have made that explicit: even Canada punishes “hate messages.” Read the rest of this entry »
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