I Hate Hate Crimes

Bad behavior is simply that. Criminal behavior is just that. What a person “thinks” is both their business and irrelevant. Consider the following…

(365gay.com)(Woodstock, Illinois) The first of two teenage girls charged with distributing anti-gay fliers at a Crystal Lake high school has received a slap on the wrist.

The girl, who is now 17, cannot be named because of her age, was 16 when she was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, resisting a peace officer, and a hate crime.

Under a plea agreement the hate crime charge was dropped and she pleaded guilty to the other charges.

Well…there appears to be no freedom of the press unless its lib press. Certainly one might consider it in poor taste. If the accusation about the student was a lie then there is a slander of defamation case (not a lawyer… so excuse the generalities). But a hate crime. Unnecessary and so open to abuse by the big brother pc movement.

Consider the next case. Much more serious.

(Buffalo News) Three teenagers are facing hate crime charges after they drove dangerously close to another car, taunted its developmentally disabled occupants and forced the other vehicle to crash at a Cheektowaga Thruway exit last week, state police say.

The Cheektowaga teens are charged with an extended bout of bullying that began late last Thursday in a McDonald’s parking lot and continued as the teens followed the victims by car.

The charges follow a six-day investigation that relied on a large number of phone tips, witness interviews and a review of restaurant surveillance tapes, State Police Capt. Michael Nigrelli said……

Kwiatkowski was charged with reckless endangerment, harassment and criminal mischief — all as hate crimes.

Heerdt was charged with harassment as a hate crime.

And a 16-year-old male, a passenger in Kwiatkowski’s vehicle, also was charged with harassment as a hate crime. He was not named by state police because of the possibility his case could be assigned to Family Court, Nigrelli said.

The three suspects were arraigned in Cheektowaga Town Court and are scheduled to return there Wednesday.

Their behavior was reckless, criminal and they should be charged with the appropriate law. Their thoughts are irrelevant. Perhaps we could enact a “Stupid” law also. Perhaps charges could be less or more (depends on your take) if they are found to be stupid criminals… but then that again is redundant isn’t it.

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