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Date Posted: 03:11:37 06/13/03 Fri
Author: Bester
Subject: I hestitate to post this cos I don't want to offend anyone, so I'll apologise in advance if I do (more)
In reply to: John 's message, "Hate Crime Laws" on 10:32:11 06/10/03 Tue

Hate crimes are awful. They're evil, they're despicable, they have no place in any society in the world. The victims of these crimes have my utmost sympathy... I literally had tears in my eyes reading the lists lance and chris posted... I doubt the effectiveness of hate crimes legislation, but don't doubt how much compassion I have for the victims of hate attacks

and here comes the but

BUT, the fact that there are victims of hate crimes, and that the violence against them is a tragedy doesn't at ALL relate to the efficacy of HCLs in stopping them. "All these people died from hate crimes, so we should have HCLs" is very simplistic and, in my opinion, flawed logic. We all have sympathy for these people, whether or not we support HCL. When you get down to the cold, hard facts, whether we should have hate crimes legislation depends on its deterrent value and its value as a political statement. I think they have value as a political statement, but not as a deterrent. Thus, I think HCL combined with a pervasive education campaign is a good idea. HCL by itself is not.

more apologies for those I undoubtedly offended

Ed

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