February 23, 2012

rhizombie:

machistado:

rhizombie replied to your post: What is your stance on hate crime laws? Should they exist? Do they do more harm or good?

Statistically its been documented that violence towards minorities generally increases after hate crime legislation is passed. I think the issue is so much bigger than simply seeking “legal protection” at that hands of the prison industrial complex …of the very system that perpetuates the most violence against these groups. It based on a very narrow conception of neoliberal “rights” and retributive rather than transformative justice.

No, I agree that there are some serious issues with hate crime legislation but it varies from a state to state level. Much of it has to do with the specific language utilized in state bills and the constrictive remedies - getting into the details isn’t appropriate for the purposes of Tumblr. I’ve talked about my stance on retributive and transformative justice on this blog before and I agree that there needs to be major changes in our criminal justice system to combat the power of the prison industrial complex and structural inequality.

However, I agree with critical race legal theorists when it comes to hate crime legislation. Legislation that is designed to combat discrimination historically faced by minority groups is necessary due to the inattention paid by our courts of the injury these types of crimes have caused and the inequality they have perpetuated. Furthermore, hate crime legislation has not been implemented into our criminal justice system for that long. Critical Supreme Court decisions regarding hate crime legislation, such as R. A. V. v. City of St. Paul (1992) and Virginia v. Black (2003), were only recently ruled upon and states have been adjusting slowly. Law influences society and society influences law and what we’re seeing right now with regards to the backlash against hate crime legislation is what we’ve always seen. When anti-discrimination laws have been passed, historically, the injurious activity against minorities has temporarily increased. Hate crime legislation is not enough on its own and a social/political movement to combat racism, prejudice, and discrimination must assist the legal portion of the struggle. When the law takes the lead in combating or remedying an injustice or an injurious activity, it usually takes society a while to catch up. 

Remedying the backlash against minorities and combating the prison industrial complex should be done at a systematic structural level rather than doing away with anti-bias legislation that is necessary to protect minorities who have been historically discriminated against.

You have a very generous opinion of the legal system, which is obviously totally you know, your prerogative. Here’s where I’m coming from: I’m wary of supporting hate crime legislation when 1) the number one perpetrator of “hate crimes” i.e., violence towards minorities, is the criminal punishment system 2) imprisonment/criminalization does not reduce violence it actually expands it 3) hate crime legislation has not shown to reduce violence and there is actually evidence that it is used heavily against oppressed/vulnerable communities 4) the suffering of minorities at the hands of violence has been co-opted by strategies of imprisonment and racist/homophobic right wing politics. Legally, minorities appear to have “equal rights before the law” but hate crime legislation invests in the expansion of the PIC, a system that overwhelmingly targets people in poverty, POC, and other minorities and produces further violence against these communities. So it’s fundamentally at odds with “combating the prison industrial complex…at a systematic level.” It’s not even a “band aid” solution—it actually perpetrates even more violence against the communities it supposedly protects. This is a really difficult position for me obviously, because I think violence against minorities is absolutely horrifying and should not go unnoticed, but I think part of that fight against violence involves a radical rethinking of justice. And maybe this is an “impossible” demand, but for me it is necessary.

These are the sort of discussions that should be happening on Tumblr (both in content and form). I don’t know where I stand on this yet, but this is just a nice thing to see anyway.

3:44pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZAjNTyGw7LOV
(Notes: 15)
  
  1. sterwood reblogged this from rhizombie and added:
    These are the sort of discussions that should be happening on Tumblr (both in content and form). I don’t know where I...
  2. itsthemusicpeople reblogged this from rhizombie and added:
    the formatting is fucked up, but this is rhizombie’s response (which i agree with):
  3. yahoofightroom said: Well said
  4. rhizombie reblogged this from machistado and added:
    You have a very generous opinion of the legal system, which is obviously totally you know, your prerogative. Here’s...
  5. machistado posted this