Thought Crimes...

I really find some of the hate crime laws to be nothing more than thought control. Here is an example, from the UK, of how you have to split hairs to decide these kinds of cases.

The court heard that the defendant, Mrs D, took her three-year-old son to a surgery because he had a rash. Dr Hair Newal said she should come back if the symptoms developed. When Mrs D demanded a diagnosis, he suggested she find another doctor.

She replied: "I can't find another doctor. All the good doctors are taken up by asylum seekers and I am left with an immigrant doctor."

She then tried to grab her son's medical records. In the struggle, Dr Newal received scratches to his head.

Now, the question here is whether the use of the word 'immigrant' makes the crime 'racially-aggravated? Initially, the judge said no, but now the appeals court has said yes. From my perspecive, assault is assault. It doesn't matter what the perpetrator was thinking.