Hate Crime Legislation

Paper Summary:

The paper discusses the perception that hate crime laws benefit and protect only the rights and sensibilities of minorities without benefiting others in the same way. The paper highlights the crucial difference between affirmative action legislation that applies only to some minority classifications to the exclusion of others and hate crime legislation that applies equally to all Americans, regardless of their race or background. The paper stresses that anti-hate crime legislation is designed to protect everyone equally, not to divide society at all.

From the Paper:

"It has been suggested that hate crime laws are unfair because they benefit only the minorities they protect. According to this view, individuals of minority racial persuasions and untraditional sexual orientation are protected by hate crime legislation, but individuals not of a minority racial background and whose gender orientation is traditional rather than non-traditional do not benefit from these types of protective legislation. Similarly, it has also been suggested that the protections afforded under hate crime legislation value the rights of those who benefit from their protections over the respective rights of everybody else."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Dershowitz, A.M. (2002) Shouting Fire: Civil Liberties in a Turbulent Age. Boston: Little Brown
• Friedman, L.M. (2005) A History of American Law. New York: Touchstone
• Miller, A.R. (1990) Miller's Court. New York: Plume
• Schmalleger, F. (1997) Criminal Justice Today: An Introductory Text for the 21st Century. Saddle River: Prentice Hall.

More papers on Hate Crime Legislation:

• Argumentative Essay # 71072 : "Hate Crime Laws"
• Essay # 143652 : "Hate Crime In North America"
• Term Paper # 110973 : "Hate Crimes"

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