So a firefighter with a beautiful, moral family to support, who put a lifetime in community service should be punished the same as a hoodlum in East San Diego for the same crime?[/quote]
You’re mixing up special treatment for different types of offenders vs. special treatment for different types of victims.
Hate crimes pertain to the types of victims, not the background, etc. of the perpetrators. Why should one victim be more protected than another when the crime was the very same crime?
Let’s say that the perpetrator is the same, but one of his murder victims was black, while another one of his victims was white. How can you argue that the black victim (and the victim’s family) is more worthy of special treatment vs. the white victim/family when the crime was the exact same crime committed by the exact same perpetrator?