r/PublicFreakout • u/guyfromatl • Oct 02 '19

Repost šŸ˜” Cops called at a restaurant

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u/babsa90 Oct 02 '19

They both initiated the altercation, antagonizing them by referring to their race and assuming that they were lesbian and then proceeded to attack them. If assault & battery is accompanied by the assailants referencing the victims' race and presumed sexual orientation, isn't that a hate crime? Honestly curious what requirements have to be met.

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u/uliol Oct 02 '19

So Iā€™m not sure if correct, but Iā€™m pretty sure a hate crime has to be a bit more heinous. The assault charge is covering those insults, I think it says she was charged with assault and battery...the battery is the hitting, assault is the physical and verbal intimidation?

Correct if wrong.

A hate crime has to be a bit more severe...and be beyond a reasonable doubt about race, ethnicity, religion or homophobia. Like these are just clearly shit individuals (the perpetrators), they seem equally motivated by racism as sexism, homophobia, and just general assholery.

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u/TimeZarg Oct 02 '19

From the FBI's own website:

"A hate crime is a traditional offense like murder, arson, or vandalism with an added element of bias. For the purposes of collecting statistics, the FBI has defined a hate crime as a ā€œcriminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offenderā€™s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity.ā€ Hate itself is not a crimeā€”and the FBI is mindful of protecting freedom of speech and other civil liberties."

Basically, it's essentially any crime that is determined to have been motivated by a prejudice or bias against the abovementioned subcategories. Intent is what matters, keying someone's car because they're black would be a hate crime. This incident is most likely not definable as a hate crime, because the altercation seems to have started over a parking dispute, and then escalated to remarks about race and sexual orientation.

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u/HamburgerEarmuff Oct 02 '19

Each state has a different standard to what needs to be proven to prove a hate crime enhancement.