HAOLE Posted March 22, 2007 Report Share Posted March 22, 2007 240-year sentence for NYC hate crime By SAMUEL MAULL, Associated Press WriterWed Mar 21, 7:24 PM ET A judge sentenced a man to 240 years in prison Wednesday for taking hostages in a bar and telling patrons that "white people are going to burn tonight." State Supreme Court Justice Maxwell Wiley told Steven Johnson, 39, who is black, that he had forfeited his "right to live in society." Johnson, 39, was convicted March 1 of attempted murder, assault and other charges, including some designated as hate crimes. Johnson invaded Bar Veloce, in Manhattan's East Village neighborhood, while nine men and six women were inside it June 16, 2002. He was carrying three pistols, a samurai sword and a container of kerosene. He told police he had left the Brooklyn housing project where he lived and taken the subway to go look for "happy" white people to avenge the mistreatment of blacks. He shot and wounded three people, including a police officer, and sprayed kerosene on several customers and threatened to set them on fire. Two women caught Johnson off guard and tackled him, and a policeman shot him. About a dozen victims and their supporters were in the courtroom for the sentencing. Johnson declined to speak. Defense lawyer Michele Galernt had asked the judge to consider Johnson's diagnosed mental disorders and the fact that he had been a sexually abused child. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- If I walk up to you and shoot you, hit you, or harm you in any way, does it matter why I did it? Should penalties be stiffer because the offender does not like your color, nationality, sex, gayness ? I say defining some crimes as hate crimes is a silly thing to do. It does not matter why I shot the person, I still shot them. Discuss Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Karacho1647545492 Posted March 22, 2007 Report Share Posted March 22, 2007 I think that the idea of imposing larger sentences for hate crimes completely obliterates the idea of racial equality. By making a "hate crime" a more serious offense, you're giving license to those who perpetrate these crimes to get their message of racial hatred out into the world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cougar1647545494 Posted March 22, 2007 Report Share Posted March 22, 2007 He dumped kerosene on people threatening to catch them on fire and shot three people. Fuck race. Execute that fucker. He deserves to burn in hell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HotCarl Posted March 22, 2007 Report Share Posted March 22, 2007 If I walk up to you and shoot you, hit you, or harm you in any way, does it matter why I did it? Should penalties be stiffer because the offender does not like your color, nationality, sex, gayness ? I say defining some crimes as hate crimes is a silly thing to do. It does not matter why I shot the person, I still shot them. Discuss If i hate you, im not just going to kill you. Im going to torture you and make sure you are alive until the very end, feeling nothing but pain until you fall unconscience. There's something especially brutal and almost evil about killing someone out of hate. Im sure the Nazi's could've just hung the jew's, instead they burned them alive. But, I do see your point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TTQ B4U Posted March 22, 2007 Report Share Posted March 22, 2007 I believe the idea behind hate crimes is that they cause harm to a greater population than just those directly involved. Hating a race or gender, etc....and committing a heinous act towards that crowd, is seen to cause more harm than just the act itself. It's been a while since I studied this, but I believe the term is "externality". I think a lot of it stems from politics and motives of the various groups, lobbiests and people in office. Personally, I don't care. I say anything that can stiffen the penalties of those that break the laws meant to protect society has my vote. Our country/society is way too soft on criminals. If the punishments were stronger and much much more harsh, I do believe it would have a bigger impact on those thinking of committing crimes. There will always be some level of it, but to a much lessor extent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheHaze Posted March 22, 2007 Report Share Posted March 22, 2007 Whoa whoa whoa, I feel mistreated now just reading about this! I feel I deserve free tuition and admission to any college to make up for this. It's only fair. /affirmativeactionthoughts This is just rediculous. All this wasted money going into this man's legal fees and prison housing for someone who is clearly filled with hatred. Violent crimes ftl. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HAOLE Posted March 22, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 22, 2007 I think this guy got what he deserves. I have seen a couple of instances( I cant think of the exact details right now) were people have received extremely long jail terms for "beating up" another person. I still believe it does not matter the motivation of the crime, the sentence should remain the same. I do see the view points of those for the stiffer sentences, but I don't think we can legislate morality. These stiffer sentences may lead to more dislike between races. my.02 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thorne Posted March 22, 2007 Report Share Posted March 22, 2007 Wouldn't all murders be considered crimes of hate? I don't get it. But then again I'm for capital punishment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Veritas Posted March 22, 2007 Report Share Posted March 22, 2007 Whoa whoa whoa, I feel mistreated now just reading about this! I feel I deserve free tuition and admission to any college to make up for this. It's only fair. /affirmativeactionthoughts Sigh. Anyways, hate crimes are more intense in my eyesight and I think a harsher penalty should be done for those. Because like someone said typically they're done more sadistcally and obvious malintent. But whatever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Posted March 22, 2007 Report Share Posted March 22, 2007 Anyone else catch that he was tackled by two women? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HAOLE Posted March 22, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 22, 2007 Anyone else catch that he was tackled by two women? yea... i thought that was funny! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
351mach11647545510 Posted March 22, 2007 Report Share Posted March 22, 2007 Anyone else catch that he was tackled by two women? maybe the poor guy just needed to get laid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.