Ok, well I will add this if it hasn't already been said in a fashion.
The simple reason for adding an additional penalty to a hate crime is because the crime is directed both at the individual and at others who are part of that targeted group. If I stab a person because they are gay, and there is reason and evidence to believe that that stabbing was also intended as a message to other gays that they should be afraid, and that they may be targeted next, simply because of their affiliation, then that is an additional crime. You are harming one individual, while at the same time, inciting fear in a group.
It is not much different from burning a cross on a black man's lawn. The point is not that you were burning wood, and may have violated a county ordinance against burning something in an improper burning receptacle. The point is that you are trying to scare or intimidate someone. That is a separate crime from the improper use of firewood.
Now the reason why such a law might carry more of a penalty if it was directed at a black man than at a white man, is because it is unlikely that if a white man had a cross burned on his lawn by another white man, that the rest of the entire white community would be fearful that by being white, they might also be in more danger than other people. But if say a black gang was specifically targeting white people by tying white people up and hanging them from a tree with a sign around their neck that said , "whiteys watch out, we are coming after you"...then you might have something there. That crime would certainly be more scary to the community than simply tying some person up for no reason and then letting them leave.
Not so hard a concept to follow is it?
Edited by Bolder-dash, : spelling
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