Registered: Aug 2000
Location: In a Blue, Blue State
Posts: 13108

Hate crime police raid 150 homes


Police investigating allegations of racism, homophobia and domestic violence have raided about 150 addresses across London. At least 83 people have been arrested after officers from the Metropolitan Police's community safety unit took part in the dawn raids on Wednesday.

Twenty-seven people have been charged, including one for rape but most have been arrested on suspicion of making racist threats and of homophobic harassment.

The raids signal the start of a day of police action against "hate crime" - offences against people on the grounds of their race, faith, religion, disability, or sexuality.

Posters in newspapers and on the Tube and trains urging victims of hate crime to come forward are running as part of a two-week campaign by the Metropolitan Police.

Commander Cressida Dick, director of the Diversity Directorate, denied the operation was simply a publicity stunt.

She said: "We want the offenders who hate, hurt and harm others to know the Met will do everything in its power to find them out and put a stop to their crime.

"People should not have to go through life being subjected to abuse because of who they are or what they believe in."

The raids will be followed up by a day of activities to raise awareness of the Met's community safety units, which deal with hate crime.

Officers will take a mobile hate-crime reporting centre into the heart of London's gay community in Old Compton Street, Soho.
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I'd sure like to see the definitions that they use to decide whether something done or said is a hate crime or not. I have read that in some places that by simply declaring a biblical belief that homosexuality is wrong is considered to be a hate crime of sorts.

Is this really considered to be so important to the people of England that time, manpower, and money is spent to combat it when all this effort could be used against more serious crimes?

This reminds me of a conversation I had today at work with this guy who said he saw a documentary piece about sexual offense laws in Alaska. Apparently the laws are so strict up there that a schoolboy mooning someone as a prank can be categorized as a sex offender and be put in a community notification program that would normally be used for rapists and molestors. It seems that whoever authored this definition of the law never thought of distinguishing just what a real sexual offense should be - there seems to be no consideration of intent to it at all. Making mooning a sexual offense only cheapens the seriousness that the law should be making towards the real sexual deviants out there. And it only seves to make criminals out of those that really do not deserve that classification.

I guess my question here is, where do you draw the line in defining what should or shouldn't be considered illegal behavior?

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: Canada
Posts: 1726

quote:

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Originally posted by billgerat
including one for rape but most have been arrested on suspicion of making racist threats and of homophobic harassment.

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Registered: Jan 2001
Location: Zion
Posts: 4521

I think the term 'hate crime' sucks. I have yet to see anyone commit a crime against someone they actually liked. You should get the same crime for beating me sensless for being an asshole as you get for beating another man sensless because he's *insert minority class here.* Being green, black, gay, straight, etc. should not give you any more protection than it does me.

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Posts: 10231

quote:

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Originally posted by billgerat
... This reminds me of a conversation I had today at work with this guy who said he saw a documentary piece about sexual offense laws in Alaska. Apparently the laws are so strict up there that a schoolboy mooning someone as a prank can be categorized as a sex offender and be put in a community notification program that would normally be used for rapists and molestors....

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: baton rouge, la
Posts: 4101

quote:

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Originally posted by billgerat

"People should not have to go through life being subjected to abuse because of who they are or what they believe in."

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Registered: Jan 2002
Location: Shreveport, LA
Posts: 3836

*reads only the title of the thread*

yeah, like the police really have any room to talk about hate crimes.

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Registered: Apr 2001
Location:
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quote:

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Originally posted by billgerat


I guess my question here is, where do you draw the line in defining what should or shouldn't be considered illegal behavior?

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Registered: Oct 2000
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quote:

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Originally posted by billgerat
I guess my question here is, where do you draw the line in defining what should or shouldn't be considered illegal behavior?

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: In a Blue, Blue State
Posts: 13108

quote:

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Originally posted by euphorbia


when you physically impose on another's rights.

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Registered: Apr 2001
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quote:

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Originally posted by billgerat


OK, fine and dandy. So If I moon you as a prank, should I be arrested for a sex crime, or just indecent exposure? Was my crime motivated by sex or just meant to offend? (While thinking on this....burning a US flag is judicially accepted as free speech. Could not mooning someone be considered the same? A visual depiction of an expressed opinion or comment?) Should I have to be registered as a sex offender, just like a child rapist? Should I have to risk the wrath of a vengeful section of society and have my house burned down just because they have been informed only that I am a sex offender without going into detail the exact nature of my "crime"? Should I have my life stigmatized by a sex offender label for mooning you?



This is what I am getting at. There has been a move by certain "progressive" people in authority to label some speech and acts (in their little pointy heads) as hate crimes, when some, if not many, may consider them to be merely an opinion or action that is entirely legitimate, though somewhat intolerant, reactionary or ignorant. Just to say "when you physically impose on another's rights" is a very simplistic way of weaseling out of serious discussion of this issue.

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: In a Blue, Blue State
Posts: 13108

quote:

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Originally posted by euphorbia

A visual of your ass isn’t very threatening or damaging to me (though I admit I have never seen it).

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If you saw my ass, it would drive you insane (with disgust, more than likely).

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