'Hate Crime' Too Broad

The staff expresses proper outrage, but writes the wrong prescription. There is little need for hate crimes legislation. Hate crime is a ridiculously broad-based and anti-populist construction. The mere fact that this brutal crime is top news means that it is a rarity. Further, society takes "hate crimes," or, more appropriately, "crimes," quite seriously. Many states execute convicted killers and imprison batterers for years. That's serious enough. Legislating the content of criminal motive confuses elite sentiment with proper jurisprudence.

To be sure, not all crimes are equal. But there exists a venue for appropriately valuing the taking or injuring of human life--within the deliberations of local juries.

--Marc J. Ambinder '01