is there anything interesting written on the legal concept of a “hate crime”? it seems like such a strange maneuver to carve out the existence of a new kind of crime based purely on motive and empower the police & federal government to confirm it. we see the dangers of this w/ hate crime legislation being used to shield zionism. also imo arbitrarily divides cases w/ evidence of “sufficient” individual intent from others; race gender etc. always structure where & how crime occurs and we don’t want to render this fact innocuous. is it ever good or effective to speak of hate crimes? if so, when?

@hopeful never really thought about it before. i think it could be a useful label/category for historical purposes? i suppose it does add that dividing line so maybe questionable as a mechanism for determining punishment - but the system for determining punishment is already questionable

@hopeful Christina B Hanhardt wrote some really interesting stuff about this in Safe Space: Gay Neighborhood History and the Politics of Violence !!

@ikeWren thank u thank uu