Tyler Thompson



Tyler Thompson

Period 5

US Humanities and Composition

May 28, 2004

Are Laws Against Hate Fair?

The First Amendment to the Constitution protects every individual’s freedom of speech and expression, but is there a point where that goes too far? When someone’s ideas become hurtful to another and cause them emotional harm, should they be persecuted differently? The laws that regulate hate crimes have been an ongoing issue recently and I have found an unusual interest in what they consist of.

Before I pursued this topic I knew of a couple cases that hit national news about a serious hate crime such as murder. I don’t think anyone would disagree that those crimes should be persecuted to the fullest, yet I was curious about the lesser crimes. How much more of a penalty is it when someone is accused of committing a crime as small as vandalism with hate words rather than their name? Also, there are some people in our society that seem to be held a little more “fragile” than others, like the handicapped, elderly, and children. Should the crimes committed against these people be persecuted more seriously? I decided to search information to find the other side of the argument, because as a typical member of society, I’ve been used to thinking that the hate crimes were so wrong that the accused should be punished with the utmost force.

Besides the serious crimes the entire nation hears about like the Matt Sheppard case and other murders based almost solely on someone’s race or sexual orientation, I was curious what type of crimes were being considered while making these laws. Vandalism and speech are obvious answers but I wanted to search for more, because to me I couldn’t understand why someone would want to give a lesser penalty to someone that is committing a crime with such hate involved. So I was determined to find out the other side, were there any unjust cases that someone was convicted of a crime based on hate when it was the same as any typical crime?

I began my search at The First Amendment Center to attempt to further narrow down my topic so I could fully understand what I was trying to find. I was disappointed at first because the bulk of the information I wanted to find fit under the broad topic of “hate crime laws.” So I decided to pursue that entirely. I found myself browsing Issues and Controversies at , by searching keywords. To my surprise, when I typed in “hate crime laws” I was given exactly what I wanted, a double sided article that brought out the strengths from each standpoint on the issue. The article titled Hate Crime Laws consisted of several helpful sections from “The Value of Hate Crime Laws Questioned” to “Hate Crime Laws Defended.” Both sides had valid points and those who supported the laws seemed to either be personally affected by a hate crime in some way, or known of one on a pretty close basis. As we searched EBSCO Host I decided it would be to my benefit to read the opinion of someone who had been affected. So there I found an article about an interview of someone closely related to the Matt Sheppard Case. This Interview helped me further see how a hate crime can truly damage someone that wasn’t necessarily directly related to the case. In addition, the article stated that the actual number of hate crimes committed is 6 times the amount that is actually reported to the authorities, which surprised me that the number was actually that high. The pain suffered by victims for some reason interested me. So I interviewed my uncle because he knew a kid that was constantly harassed because of his sexual orientation. One of the things that he brought to my attention I really hadn’t thought about before was the fact that peer pressure has a big affect on what kind of hate crimes are committed. Many of the most serious things done to a person are almost forced upon kids because they think they have to do it to impress someone important to them. Once I felt that I understood what both sides of the issue were, I wanted to attempt to confirm the serious of the problem was in politics. I again used EBSCO Host to aid my search and wasn’t let down. I found an article that discussed from a somewhat neutral point of view how Democrats and Republicans react to the issue. This Article explained that Democrats had a more serious view on the subject while Republicans; including George W. Bush remain a little more skeptical.

When I started researching this issue, I had a pretty big base of knowledge because it is something that society hears about every day. Yet, with some digging, I was able to see the other side of the argument and learn that maybe in some cases the accused shouldn’t be punished as seriously as they sometimes are. Hate crimes are an obvious problem that everyone would agree needs to be taken care of. Legislation is aware and seems to be taking a look at the problem but their involvement should go further than it does. If everyone was educated of what hate crimes consist of and what kind of punishments follow, maybe these problems would slowly diminish.

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