The Future of Hate Crime Laws

I've long been against so called "hate crime" laws mostly because it criminalizes motives (and thereby thoughts) rather than actions. Criminal law is supposed to punish the actions of an individual regardless of the why. A motive may be used to establish murder over negligent homicide, but the particular motive ought never be criminalized itself. Hate crimes becomes a slippery slope because if you really think about it, other than some cases of serial killers, just about every hate crime that involves physical violence involves "hate" of some kind.

Hate crimes are usually based on "protected classes". Sexual minorities, race (usually excluding persons classified as white), ethnicity and religion. Now England has gone and added "alternate sub-culture":

Police in Manchester have arrested two people for an attack on a 16-year-old emo in the first recorded hate crime against followers of alternative subcultures.

The force announced last week that it was classing assaults on subcultures such as goths and punks in the same way as offences against race, religion and sexual orientation...

The changes came after senior officers at Manchester worked closely with the mother of Sophie Lancaster, a 20-year-old student who was beaten to death by a gang who took exception to her dreadlocks and piercings.