re: #189 lawhawk

but the crux of hate crime legislation is the enhancement of already existing penal code such that the penalties are increased depending on who the victim is and if it can be proven that the crime occurred because of the class to whom the victim belongs.

I’m sorry, that’s not totally accurate. T he penalties are increased if it can be proven that the crime occurred because of what class the victim was perceived, by the offender, to belong to.

In other words, if you kill a straight guy because you think he’s gay, it’s still a hate crime.