Analysis Of Should Hate Be A Crime By James B. Jacobs

A black man falls casualty in a car accident after a white male driver fails to stop his car. On his social media page, posts containing racist comments are found throughout his page. The black community voice their outrage on this crime by commenting, "This is an attack against our society!" Many people argue, that for such cases, a hate crime law needs to be instated and enforced; however, in the article "Should Hate Be a Crime?" a man named James B. Jacobs argues against the legislation of hate crime laws. In this article, Jacobs successfully makes his argument by remaining objective, appealing more toward the ethos and logos of the reader, and limiting emotional language. Jacobs aims his article toward lawmakers and voters. Motives are subjective and based on many factors; therefore, Jacobs argues that basing hate crime off of motive does not only create hardships but also flaws. He continues his argument by looking at rights given to the people from the First Amendment. According to the First Amendment, people possess many freedoms including the freedom of speech; however, Jacobs argues how hate crimes

When he argued that the majority of crimes tried as hate crimes "[resulted] from impulsive behavior or situational disputes", Jacobs used a quotation from "Charles Lawrence III, an influential professor of law at Stanford University" as evidence for his case. Lawrence states that historically "racism played and still plays a dominant role" in American society which causes behaviors being "influenced by unconscious racial motivation". Jacobs relates this to the "[flaws] in hate crime legislation". In addition, he uses the court case State v. Wyant and the "International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences" to further his claim. By using expert opinions and a court case, Jacobs reveals the research he has done to support his position on hate crime legislation which creates appeal to