"I'm sure you already have plenty to write about, but I'd be interested in your views."

Hi Dave, this is a actually a very interesting question. My knee-jerk response is that hate crime legislation is a good thing. We already consider motive when deciding punishment for crimes in the case of temporary insanity, or whether a parent kills somebody who hurt their child, for example. Similarly, we treat the rape of a minor more seriously than the rape of an adult. The nature and motivations behind a crime do matter.

There's also the idea that the way we treat different crimes sends a message about the kind of society we want to be. Hating somebody, simply for being who they are, is unacceptable in any decent society. So if you act on that hate, maybe it should be punishable? The additional life sentences were largely symbolic, they're already serving life. But maybe the symbolism matters.

But that said, I do totally see your point. As you say, there's often a significant amount of mind-reading that needs to take place to convict somebody of a hate crime. And in the current climate, there's certainly a risk that any inter-racial crime will be assumed to be based on hate. Definite food for thought. I'll definitely consider an article on this. Thanks a lot.