Slate takes a poke at the Knoxville Church shooting.
The headline reads: "Is killing Liberals a Hate Crime?"
The whole hate crime craze befuddles me. How can you execute someone more just because they are animated to kill by prejudice? Killing is by definition showing extreme prejudice. What more do you need?
Hate crimes never made sense to me because laws already on the books deal with the results of hate crimes.
Do I approve of prejudice? No. But, it crosses the 1st Amendment line of freedom of speech and freedom of religion, etc. when you criminalize someone's beliefs, regardless of how disgusting you may find them.
This guy in Knoxville is guilty of murder, plain and simple. Tennessee has the death penalty, so chances are he'll be put to death. I personally, don't agree with the death penalty, but in the context of hate crimes, you cannot punish this guy any more than execution without violating the 8th Amendment.
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