Hate Crime Charges
The suspect accused of firebombing peaceful pro-Israel demonstrators in Boulder, Colorado, has been charged with 16 counts of attempted murder, hate crimes, and a list of other charges.
What he did was heinous — no question. But why is it a hate crime? A crime is a crime. We don’t need new legal categories to punish a crazed man with a makeshift flamethrower. Attempted murder covers it.
Labeling something a “hate crime” may feel satisfying, but it’s dangerous. Our legal system is supposed to guarantee equal justice under the law. Adding extra punishment based on intent or emotion risks undermining that principle. It opens the door to thought policing — punishing people more harshly not for what they did, but for what we think motivated them.
Ironically, hate crime laws gained momentum under the Clinton administration following the murder of Matthew Shepard. The public was sold a story of an innocent gay man who was beaten to death for making a pass at a straight man but in-depth investigative reporting tells a different story.
Shepard, according to close friends and multiple witnesses, had a months-long sexual relationship with one of his killers. He was deeply involved in cross-state drug trafficking. At the time of his death, his jaw had recently been wired shut after an altercation with another man who said Shepard made unwanted sexual advances. Shepard had also been arrested as a teenager for molesting young boys — a fact the court barred from being introduced at trial.
In short: the story that sparked a national movement and new legislation was, at best, incomplete — and at worst, manufactured.
We now live in the shadow of that narrative. Hate crime laws may sound righteous, but they create legal disparities and moral confusion. They elevate certain victims above others. They allow prosecutors and politicians to signal virtue, rather than uphold principle.
And they put us all one step closer to punishing people not just for what they do — but for what they think.
The Boulder fire bomber should have the book thrown at him, yes, but “hate crime” need not apply.
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