I agree that date rape would be hard to classify as a hate crime. Any
prosecutor could try a number of crimes as hate crimes, but the issue
of what constitutes "hate" is raised. Is hate to be defined by the
prosecutor? I believe that rapists should be harshly dealt with by the
law, but "hate" crime legislation seems to cheapen the other degrees
that have already been established in the courts. "Hate" crime just
seems to be too arbitrary a term to actually consistute a whole new
class of crimes. I think the people behind these laws mean well, but it
just does not make sense to me personally.

J



--- UseNet To RIME Gateway {at} 2/14/05 10:09:22 PM ---