When individuals are prosecuted under hate crime laws, the trial can become a wide-range inquiry into the defendant s beliefs. Hate crime laws abuse civil rights . Currently, the homosexual lobby is the most ardent supporter of hate crime legislation. However, civil rights laws are normally based on immutable characteristics that is characteristics which cannot be changed such as skin color, sex or disability. If sexual orientation is added to hate crime laws, we legitimize the claim that sexual orientation is inbred, rather than chosen behavior.
All crimes are hate crimes .
All criminals operate on the basis of hate or other impure motive. Criminal actions should be vigorously and fairly prosecuted. But hate crime laws allow the same action to be punished differently. If person A shouts a nasty insult about the victim s race while beating him up, he will face a stiffer penalty than B. Both crimes are equally horrible, regardless of the words spoken at the time of the attack. A federal hate crime statute would violate the principal of federalism.