Are Hate Crimes Impotent?
Show me a hate crime and I'll show you a prosecutor that does not want to prosecute because they found evidence that the crime was committed for another reason besides the victims identity.
Hate crime laws were implemented to protect groups that have a history of being prejudiced to endure bias motivated violence. It enhances the penalties in criminal conduct. It is very different from hate speech, which in a lot of cases is free speech. However, hate crimes have been expanded to include university rivalries in some cases.
Because of the enhanced punishment range, hate crimes are difficult to prove. People who commit crimes against another don't always leave a note stating they killed someone based on their protected class.
For example, Devon Robinson was eighteen-years-old when he was at a gas station and invited to a Memorial Day party in 2019. At that party, he had amorous relationships with three people, two gay men and one transgendered woman. Video footage of him leaving the party showed him dry heaving, he returned an hour later and fired twenty shots, killing three and seriously injuring two. The media insinuated that it was a hate crime, said that they were targeted because they were LGBTQ and largely ignored the story until Robinson's conviction. The media was largely irresponsible in the handling of this case.
Although Michigan has a hate crime statute, prosecutors were not comfortable pursuing the case as a hate crime. Evidence showed that the killings had more to do with Robinson's internalized homophobia than his hatred towards members of the LGBTQ community. This slight difference is exactly why hate crimes are largely impotent. Prosecutors thought that the motive for his killing was more about his self hate for being gay and he wanted to kill everyone who found out what happened, regardless of their sexual orientation.
Society has a long way to go and having hate crime statutes is not a magic wand solution, especially because we are including school rivalries in the same category to what happened to Emmett Till and James Byrd, Jr. A little mental health help would go a long way. Perhaps teachings that sexuality is a spectrum as opposed to the out-dated, harmful and offensive Sex in the City reference that bisexuality is just "a layover..." I think the media could have done more to bring awareness to internalized homophobia and its dangers as opposed to incorrectly classifying this scenario as a hate crime. I guess it's easier to say something is outward hate as opposed to looking inward to address internal bias.
Michigan does not have the death penalty. If you are convicted of first-degree murder, the highest punishment is life imprisonment with no possibility for parole. The state only has to prove premeditation, which can happen in a split second. Here, it happened in an hour. Although there is a federal hate crime that Devon Richardson could be charged with. It is not double jeopardy because it's a different statute. Federal law does have the death penalty. However, in my experience, jurisdictions are seeking the death penalty less and less. Prosecutors are keen to ask the victims families of what they would want. Usually, families do not want retributive, eye-for-an-eye justice, instead they want to honor their loved one's memory with no more bloodshed. So, I do not see the federal government wanting to try this case as a hate crime.