Crimes are often differentiated based on the perpetrators motivation, thought process, and reasoning. They do this for two reasons; the severity of the crime ca

Crimes are often differentiated based on the perpetrators motivation, thought process, and reasoning. They do this for two reasons; the severity of the crime can be informed by them and the likelihood of recidivism and path to rehabilitation. Take first degree and second degree murder. Both are the intentional taking of someone’s life, but are differentiated based of intent. Someone that decides to murder their spouse, plans it out, and carries it out is first degree murder. Someone that walks in on their spouse with another person, grabs a gun and fires is second degree. The second degree murderer can learn to control their anger and impulse control, the first degree murderer can just learn how to plan better to not get caught. The first degree murderer had time to think about the crime and decided it was an acceptable way to solve their problem. Hate crimes are crimes where the motivation and thought process are against a class of people. They didn’t commit the crime because they were mad at their wife for cheating or mad at the person that the person that cut them off and then swore at them. They were motivated to commit the crime because the victim existed. Finally, hate crimes are typically put in place because the justice system itself fails to provide equal protection, and because hate crime perpetrators are often protected from justice. There is a reason anti-lynching laws are named after Emmett Till. I can't believe that you could look at the history of any group now protected under hate crime laws and say "yes, these are definitely laws to target the poor marginalized perpetrators".