Cato @ Liberty » The Folly of Hate Crime Laws

The Folly of Hate Crime Laws

Posted By David Rittgers On August 5, 2009 @ 9:29 am In Law and Civil Liberties | Comments Disabled

That’s the title of Richard Cohen’s op-ed ^[1] in yesterday’s Washington Post. Cohen highlights the futility of using a hate crime to prosecute the Holocaust Museum shooter:

In von Brunn’s case, the hate-crime counts are an obscenity. To suggest that the effects of this attack were felt only by the Jewish or the black communities — and not, for instance, by your average Washington tourist — ghettoizes both its real and purported victims. It’s a consequence that von Brunn himself might applaud.

I couldn’t ^[2] agree ^[3] more ^[4].

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URL to article: http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/the-folly-of-hate-crime-laws/

URLs in this post:

[1] Richard Cohen’s op-ed: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/03/AR2009080302222.html

[2] couldn’t: http://www.cato-at-liberty.org../../../../../2009/07/15/hate-crimes-bill-becomes-an-amendment/

[3] agree: http://www.cato-at-liberty.org../../../../../2009/07/01/hate-crime-legislation-a-shocking-disregard-for-federalism/

[4] more: http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=10346

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