D I S C R I M I N A T I O N    &    N A T I O N A L    S E C U R I T Y    I N I T I A T I V E    --    B L O G
  DNSI Home - http://pluralism.org/affiliates/kaur_sidhu/
  Pluralism Project - http://www.pluralism.org
  Harvard University - http://www.harvard.edu


Monday, May 09, 2005

Hate Crimes Legislation - Punishing Thought and Speech?

The Capital Times contains an op-ed entitled, "Hate crime laws at odds with free thought, speech." The author writes,
Anyone who objects to government trying to criminalize thoughts and speech always has a tough time explaining why it's a bad idea to prosecute so-called hate crimes.
Much has been written about hate crimes legislation in academic texts, law review journals and the editorial pages of newspapers. A principal argument against the passage of hate crimes legislation is the main point of this particular op-ed: we should not punish people for their thoughts or speech; we should only punish conduct. In other words, an assault on a Muslim-American should be punished as simple assault even if there is a colorable claim that the victim was selected on the basis of his or her religion.

Briefly, in response, one may want to consider the following: first, American law already "punishes" people for their thoughts. For example, a crime generally requires mens rea, which is defined as "the state of mind indicating culpability which is required by statute as an element of a crime."Mens rea literally means "guilty mind." Second, free speech, while a treasured right, is not absolute. There are well-established exceptions to the First Amendment guarantee, including "fighting words", which are "words intentionally directed toward another person which are so nasty and full of malice as to cause the hearer to... incite him/her to immediately retaliate physically." Whether hate crimes should exist as another exception to free speech or as a strand of the fighting words doctrine has been the subject of considerable debate; however, to assert that something cannot be punished by law simply because speech is implicated is to ignore bedrock American legal principles. Third, hate crimes legislation does not punish speech alone or speech in the absence of an act; it punishes a particular brand of conduct - conduct that was directed at a person because of their immutable characteristics. Fourth, society attaches penalties to certain conduct in order to make it more costly to commit, in other words to discourage certain behavior. Society may legitimately decide that crimes committed against people because of their race, national origin, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or gender are worthy of additional punishment due to the destructive effect it has on the victim itself, members of that particular group, and to the fundamental American virtue of diversity - an effect that goes beyond the mere impact of a simple assault, battery, or attempted murder.

DNSI     direct link       Email post: 



About DNSI

The Discrimination & National Security Initiative (DNSI) is a research entity that examines the mistreatment of minority communities during times of military action or national crisis.

More Info:
DNSI Home Page




The Blog

Why a Blog?
The purpose of this web-log is to offer news and commentary in a fluid, dynamic format while our more substantive reports are forthcoming.

Recent Posts
"Muslim on No-Fly Lists Still Gets an Invitation t...
ADC to Honor Survivor of 9/11 attacks for Pro Bono...
"Arab-Americans Tell Their Own Story: A visit to M...
"South Asians in the 2004 Elections"
Canada: "Lawyers propose terror-law safeguards"
Complaint in Denny's Discrimination Case
Sikh Political Leader Urges U.S. to Place France o...
"Couple Fighting To Have Their Foster Children Ret...
"US Continues to Tighten Immigration Following 9/1...
"Tufts rally slams racism, hate"

Archives
04/01/2005 - 05/01/2005
05/01/2005 - 06/01/2005
06/01/2005 - 07/01/2005
07/01/2005 - 08/01/2005
08/01/2005 - 09/01/2005
09/01/2005 - 10/01/2005
10/01/2005 - 11/01/2005
11/01/2005 - 12/01/2005
12/01/2005 - 01/01/2006
01/01/2006 - 02/01/2006
02/01/2006 - 03/01/2006
03/01/2006 - 04/01/2006
04/01/2006 - 05/01/2006
05/01/2006 - 06/01/2006
06/01/2006 - 07/01/2006
07/01/2006 - 08/01/2006
08/01/2006 - 09/01/2006
09/01/2006 - 10/01/2006
10/01/2006 - 11/01/2006
11/01/2006 - 12/01/2006
12/01/2006 - 01/01/2007
01/01/2007 - 02/01/2007
02/01/2007 - 03/01/2007
03/01/2007 - 04/01/2007
04/01/2007 - 05/01/2007
05/01/2007 - 06/01/2007
06/01/2007 - 07/01/2007
07/01/2007 - 08/01/2007
08/01/2007 - 09/01/2007
09/01/2007 - 10/01/2007
10/01/2007 - 11/01/2007
11/01/2007 - 12/01/2007
12/01/2007 - 01/01/2008
01/01/2008 - 02/01/2008
02/01/2008 - 03/01/2008
03/01/2008 - 04/01/2008
04/01/2008 - 05/01/2008
05/01/2008 - 06/01/2008
06/01/2008 - 07/01/2008
07/01/2008 - 08/01/2008
08/01/2008 - 09/01/2008
09/01/2008 - 10/01/2008
10/01/2008 - 11/01/2008
11/01/2008 - 12/01/2008
12/01/2008 - 01/01/2009
01/01/2009 - 02/01/2009


Etc...

Religious Diversity News-Pluralism Project









Blogroll
Into the Whirlwind
Human Rights in India
IntentBlog
Ethnic Confusion Britain
MrSikhNet
Anil Kalhan
Islamicate
Ultrabrown
Sepia Mutiny

Feeds, etc.











(c) 2005 Discrimination & National Security Initiative 1531 Cambridge Street Cambridge, MA 02138