Who gets your vote in 2012?

Barack Obama (BO)	Mike Huckabee (MH)
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Hate Crime

Home » Issues » Crime and Punishment From the Left   From the Right Hate Crime Hate crime legislation has been a staple of American jurisprudence since the year 2,000 when the Hate Crimes Act was signed. The goal was to nip in the bud the crimes that were fueled by a rage against another person’s ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, or religious affiliation. While the crimes perpetrated could be adjudicated under existing laws, the very fact that they were committed as an act of discrimination and hatred warranted additional punishment. Republican lawmakers have long since realized, however, that the application of hate crime laws is capricious at best. Add to this the fact that most every crime at some point or another contained an element of hatred, the notion that a thought crime has been committed in addition to a property crime or crime against a person does not sit well with Republicans. After all, there is no form of conspiracy or racketeering in place (otherwise the defendants could be adjudicated under these premises) and in many cases the mere membership of a defendant in a group that has been known to discriminate against another group is not enough to prove intent of committing a crime based on that discrimination. To this end, Republicans are taking hard look at the idea of mens rea, and are coming to the conclusion that those things which can be proven should be dealt with in a court of law, while those things which can only be speculated about should not enter into the court case, simply because it offers too much opportunity for mistakes.