Posted on: Thursday, June 28, 2001

Island Voices
Others are also hurt by hate crimes

By William E. Woods
Facilitator with the Hawai'i Hate Crimes Task Force

Kaua'i had a most unfortunate incident recently of a hate crime.

Although Hawai'i's hate-crime law was not signed at the time of the crime, most clearly we can understand that the underpinnings of the crime were hate and bias against a class of Hawai'i's citizens. Based on what has been written to date, this crime was clearly motivated by personal hate and bias of two youths schooled in the social customs of a hate-perpetuating religious ideal of some.

There has been much discussion about why such crimes deserve a special category under our statutes, so here's a perspective of why these are importantly different crimes:

Hate crimes are about the special situation whereby the crime may not have taken place or would not have been so extreme had the perpetrator not been seeking out a particular class of people.

In other words, there may not have been a crime except that the motivation set it up or escalated the magnitude of the crime.

Hate or bias crimes are a double whammy on society. First, the individual victim is harmed. Second, a chilling effect against a whole class or category of people exists — a purposeful promotion of group harm and fear.

The second victim, a class of people, usually a denigrated group to begin with, is victimized, often in silence. The directed hate against the class extends to the entire class when such a crime is demonstrated. The perpetrator thus is effective in causing even greater harm if the sentencing cannot claim its due justice to the total effect of the crime committed.

Enhanced sentencing does not require extended terms, but it does provide an opportunity for the judge to elicit the extenuating circumstances and impact of the crime. If these conditions exist, the judge can enhance the sentence accordingly.

We already have extended sentences for harmed people who are 8 years or younger and 60 or older. We also have extended-sentencing laws for crimes against the disabled and law-enforcement officers.

Enhanced sentencing brings a greater and fairer possibility of a correct sentence for the extensiveness of crimes of harm directed toward specific people — clearly a greater good that will hopefully help people understand the underpinnings of some crime and may offer a clear public position against intolerance and hate.