Mind Reading Capabilities: Strengthening Prosecution of Hate Crimes

Author: Sarah Riordan

Congresswomen Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX) is sponsoring a bill that essentially calls for law enforcement to be stricter in their prosecution of hate crimes.  H.R.254 states that any harm caused in the name of race, sex, sexual orientation, or religion should be called a hate crime and therefore the perpetrator should pay not only for the crime committed, but for the fact that it was motivated by hate.

Apparently, Congresswoman Jackson-Lee is a mind reader.  She can tell when a crime is racially motivated, and she can tell what a person is truly thinking when they pull the trigger.  Miss Jackson-Lee is so intuitive, that she knows when a murder is not just a murder…but a murder caused by hate.

Now, I’m sure that ignorant people commit crimes everyday in the name of race, religion, and gender, but as the law currently stands, those people are already prosecuted.  For example, if a white man shoots a black man and the black man dies, the white man will be charged with murder.  Naming the crime one of hate, does not change the ultimate outcome; murder is murder.  One man is dead, and one man is living.  No law will change that.

Even if a white man shoots a black man and the black man doesn’t die, it’s still a crime! It’s a crime known as attempted murder.  And like murder, we already have laws that will send the offender to jail.  Whether it’s a hate crime or not is irrelevant; the white man won’t walk free.

In addition to the fact that we already have laws against these crimes on the books, I can’t help but wonder how a judge or jury will decide a crime is in fact a hate crime. Will they attempt to guess what the offender was thinking?  How will they know that the crime was motivated by the “hate criteria?”  What if there was simply a love triangle of mixed races, and the black man killed the white man for having an affair with his wife.  Is that not just a regular crime of passion?  Because the people involved happened to be of different races, does that make it a hate crime? 

Furthermore, are not all crimes, crimes of hate?   Most of the time, you cause bodily harm to someone because you…ready for this…hate them!!  If you’re going to create something called a hate crime, then every crime under the sun should fall into that category.  It’s a pointless distinction. 

Ultimately, what this bill will do is close in on our rights as U.S. citizens.  In H.R. 254, Congress is attempting to read people’s thoughts.  If they can prosecute a person on supposed intent, then what will that lead to?  Could a person speaking out against homosexuality be accused of a hate crime and arrested because the intent behind his speech was hateful? 

The end result if American jumps on the hate crime band wagon, will be a government that attempts to read people’s minds, and prosecute on thoughts.  That is not the kind of country I want to live in, and it’s certainly not a country that was founded on freedom.

I think I just might hate H.R. 254…