Messages from Hate Crime Offenders: A Case for Equal Protection?

Nearly Fifteen years have passed since the US Supreme Court in RAV v. City of St. Paul 112 S. Ct. 2538 (1992) struck down the Minnesota hate crime ordinance that sought to proscribe the use of historical symbols of hate on grounds that such symbols violated victim's constitutional rights protected by the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Although the Court remedied some of the problem by affirming penalty enhancing statutes for hate conduct, it ignored the importance of assessing the unique and deleterious consequences of hate crime victimization as a compelling governmental interest worthy of equal protection consideration. This paper illuminates the severity of hate crime consequences and the messages from hate offenders to both direct and vicarious victims. Hate crime victimizations are unlike other victim perpetrated crimes in that the injuries are significantly more brutal and secondary effects of victimizations cause ripple effects that divide our communities. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]