I agree with this to an extent. Think about manslaughter v. murder v. premeditated murder. All are illegal, and by definition yield the same end result: death of a victim. However, premeditated murder often carries a harsher sentence than murder and manslaughter (even if it is voluntary manslaughter). This is mostly due to the rationale behind the crime Truth be told, instead of having harsher penalties for hate crimes, the vigilance and penalties for violence in general should perhaps be elevated. Things aren't like they were when most of us were growing up... Where you got into a fight, you both had bloody noses and perhaps a black eye, and then finished playing ball until the street lights came on. Now kids are being beaten to death (see recent murder on Chicago's South Side), shot, stabbed, etc... All over some bull-isht. Some of these azz-wipes are even taping the fights and posting them on the net. Regarding "hate crimes", I think that in the eyes of the victim/victim's family a "suitable punishment" is more of a moving target because high emotions make the situation more volatile. If a Muslim kid were to get jumped (post 9-11) in school while being called "terrorist (insert slur here)", the punishment should be that the defendants be expelled from school (if that's the punishment for fighting). However, in the eyes of the parents (and media), you have a kid who was severly beaten in a racially-motivated altercation. Punishment should still be expulsion, however there will always be some people who will want more.