Hate Crime Legislation

The advocacy by some politicians of special “hate crimes” legislation (“Hate Crimes Deserve Special Legislation and Punishment,” Nov. 7) is the single scariest proposal that has come down in an age when many ideas that were once Orwellian fantasies are now accepted as part of the cultural mainstream.

This country fought World War II to defeat European philosophies that deemed the lives of individuals of some groups as having less value than those of other groups. How frightening that the concept that some lives will have more value than others is resurfacing in our own system in 1999.

BOB McKAY

North Hills

* Rep. Brad Sherman claims he fears “crimes that threaten to tear the very fabric of our society apart,” yet he proposes remedies--increased attention toward and prosecution of so-called “hate crimes”--that guarantee his worst fear being realized (“Hate Crimes Deserve Special Legislation and Punishment,” Valley Perspective, Nov. 7).

Designating specific groups of Americans with some shared characteristics as permanent victims--in his examples, African Americans, Jews and gays--further isolates them from the rest of society in the name of “protecting” them from assaults ostensibly motivated by hatred. At the same time, his message to others not included in these victim groups is that crimes against them do not matter quite as much. Crime is crime, and should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Basing punishment on the presumed mind-set of the criminal turns the justice system into a perverse guessing game and undermines the rule of law.

BILL FARLEY

Sun Valley