Hate crime legislation...?

[mrph]

As some of you will be aware, there's an online (UK) petition to broaden the definition of hate crimes in the wake of Sophie Lancaster's death.

Personally, I have to say that I'm unconvinced by the concept of hate crime laws. Not just in this case, but generally. On the other hand, I don't actually have any facts and figures about this to hand - it's just a vague unease.

I'm sure someone out there knows rather more than I do, though. So...

1. Are they effective when a case comes to court?
2. Do they actually make a difference as a deterrent?
3. Should two similar crimes be treated differently depending on what motivated them - should the courts treat a completely random attack differently from a hate crime...?

I know this is a very emotive subject - and I do want to see the people responsible for this sort of attack jailed for a very long time. But is this the best way to do that? Are the existing laws sufficient - or do they need strengthening in other ways...?

Comments

[hex61.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately the use of "hate crime" status here tends to have resulted in rather unbalanced handling of both cases and judgments. In terms of policing "hate crimes" get prioritisation which means regular law and order stuff seems to be overlooked.

I'd like to have more honest statistics as well. However our police departments are financially incentivized to report what will support their community's image and further their own budgetary gains. So you cannot really trust their reporting.