Date: Thu, 19 Oct 2000 07:27:31 -0500
From: A.D. Powell
Subject: HATE CRIME LAWS JUST RACIAL POLITICS BY ANOTHER NAME
Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass makes a good argument against “hate crime” laws. I might also add the issue of racial classification. The government would have to determine the “racial” identity of both the alleged victim and alleged perpetrator in order to judge whether or not a legally defined “hate crime” had been committed.
An excellent book on this subject is HATE CRIMES: CRIMINAL LAW & IDENTITY POLITICS by James B. Jacobs and Kimberly Potter (Oxford University Press, 1998). One of the most fascinating chapters in the book contrasts the modern “hate crime” laws, which focus on individual motivation and identity, with the post-Civil War or Reconstruction laws that (18 United States Code 241 and 242) focused on federal, state or local officials who deprive private citizens of federally guaranteed rights on the basis of certain characteristics or private groups such as the Ku Klux Klan that engaged in conspiracies to violate federally guaranteed rights: statute 241 “[i] if two or more persons conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person …in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the Untied States… or if two or more persons go in disguise on the highway [i.e., the Ku Klux Klan], or on the premises of another, with intent to prevent or hinder [the] free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege so secured…They shall be fined not more than $10,000, or imprisoned not more than 10 years or both…”
statute 242: “Whoever, under color of law,…willfully subjects any person to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunitieis secured or protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or to different punishments, pains, or penalties, on account of such person being an alien, or by reason of his color, or race, than are prescribed for the punishment of citizens, shall be fined…or imprisoned…”
“Neither of these statutes was meant to single out the prejudices of common criminals for special condemnation and more severe punishment, rather, their purpose was to ensure that laws were enforced equally on behalf of all victims, no matter what race, and against all offenders, whatever their race, prejudice, or criminal motivation. Unlike modern-day hate crime statutes, which cover only those victims who fall within the groups listed in the hate crime statute, the post-Civil War statutes apply to everyone.” (page 37)
Article URL: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/kass/