Hating on Hate Crimes

There's a running debate online about whether or not we should support hate crimes. Lots of ostensibly liberal commentators, as well as many libertarians, think that hate crime legislation is redundant; if they're already committing a violent crime, shouldn't they just be prosecuted for that? It's a slightly different tack than the conservative/Republican critics who argue that hate crime legislation is "thought" policing, because it requires jurors to get inside the head of the offender and figure out whether the crime was motivated by racism, homophobia, etc.

Over at Sullivan's blog, he has an astute letter from a reader who responds to Sullivan's reservations about hate crime bills:

But I've often found myself questioning whether or not you and/or folks of your ilk would be against any kinds of legal distinction under the law. For example, should aggravated sexual assault simply be considered a violent crime, rather than a specific crime having to do with non-rape violence of a sexual nature? Or perhaps, from the same viewpoint, all crimes of a sexual nature ought to be considered sex crimes. In that case, should there be a distinction between aggravated rape, coerced statutory rape, consensual statutory rape, and child molestation?

I like this point. I have a tendency, when I hear an opposing opinion that seems well-thought out and consistent, to take it very seriously. Sometimes, when scanning blogs, I'll even accept such arguments without much reflection. But this letter raises a serious problem for the whole "redundancy" argument.

The emphasis upon the importance of distinctions also brings me to an additional thought: perhaps it is not that hate crimes legislation is over-specified (both "hate" and "crime"), but because the legislation is under-specified that it's a problem. "Hate" is a pretty broad designator for a class of crimes -- and while the legislation does suggest what kinds of racism, homophobia, etc., the law should apply to, maybe we should have separate crimes. "Racist assault and battery." "Aggravated homophobic manslaughter." "Anti-Semitic aggravated assault."

This may sound tongue-in-cheek, and like it'd be a huge pain in the ass, but perhaps part of the difficulty critics have with this legislation is that it seems it could be applied whenever you proved some kind of systematic hatred, and insofar as hatred is perhaps the sine qua non of violence, if not human emotions (sorry, love), the law should apply to TONS of crimes -- maybe too many. On the other hand, I think it would be pretty hard to criticize, and more palatable to accept, legislation specifically aimed at KKK thugs wielding bats.

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Save Texas Beer

Please take some time to call you state representative in support of HB 2094; a bill which would make selling small to-go packs of beer legal at local microbreweries. Direct sales are ESSENTIAL to setting craft brewing on a sound footing here in Texas; we've only got a handful microbrews in this state, versus hundreds of wineries, and a huge part of that is this law. (When the legislature voted several years ago to permit direct sales at wineries, the Texas industry took off.) If you care at ALL about beer, or if you have even a passing affection for locals like St. Arnolds and Shiner (or rising stars like Real Ale, Southern Star, or Rahr and Sons), you can take a few minutes to call or write and encourage the Licensing and Administration committee not to kill this bill (like they did two years ago).

Your support is essential, because the major beer distributors (who sell Bud, Miller, and Coors) dump tons of money on the legislature to make sure that Texas remains a hostile environment for in-state breweries. That's what happened the last time this bill went around (you can read what Robb Walsh says about it here and here).

On a personal note, many of these microbreweries are staffed with hard-working folks who are tremendously nice. Live Oak, for instance, once allowed me and my friends to put on a play at their brewery up in Austin (con cerveza backstage), and when I visited their new BBQ brewpub a week ago, invited be to come back and spend the day brewing some time. I'd take that over Busch Gardens any day.

So please, PLEASE take the time to call, and email/forward this to anyone you can think of in this state who might be interested in helping out (especially those of you who are part of a family clan here -- Jeffrey, that means YOU).

NOTE: The hearing is this Wednesday, March 16, in room E2.016 of the state capitol. Anyone want to carpool?

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