Earlier in the entry Jos writes: It is important to recognize violence motivated by bigotry, and
difficult to see alternatives to hate crime convictions as a means to
this end. A sense of justice for the family and friends of people who
have been killed because of their sexuality or gender identity is also
valuable. But the ultimate goal should be to end such violence.
Harsher
sentencing does not decrease the amount of hate crimes being committed.
A focus on sentence enhancement for these crimes does nothing for
prevention. Putting our energy toward promoting harsher sentencing
takes it away from the more difficult and more important work of
changing our culture so that no one wants to kill another person
because of their perceived membership in a marginalized identity group.
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