The New Intimacy

Hate crimes: how much time is "enough"?

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Contributor: Peggi Peggi
So, something terrible happened to someone who means a lot to me. Some of you may have heard about it, or perhaps not, but a young woman who is very important to me and has been in my life for 9 years finally managed to get "justice" for something awful that happened to her. She is a M2F post-op transgendered woman, I dated her before she began to go through the change and decided dating on top of everything else was just too much, we stayed very close, but earlier this year she was attacked for trying to use the woman's restroom inside of a McDonald's restaurant. She was brutally beaten by two females, didn't even have an opportunity to defend herself. She was beaten into a seizure. This has been very painful for me as well, seeing her go through this, watching my friend lose so much because of a hate crime!

One of the women responsible for the beating was just sentenced to 10 years in prison, 5 years suspended.

My question is, for a hate crime like this, what do you think is the "appropriate" amount of time to serve as punishment? Here is a link to the most recent news report on the incident. Let me know what you think!

link
09/15/2011
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Contributor: Ghost Ghost
I'm not a fan of our justice system so much, because I often think the punishment doesn't fit the crime. I'm more into public shaming. ;3

In any case, I think, for hate and violent crimes (depending on the severity), 1/5 of the lifespan is a good amount of time to spend in prison.
09/16/2011
Contributor: mandiegk mandiegk
I'm sorry about what happened to your friend, it is absolutely terrible for people to treat someone that way and she is still being victimized because of the publicity of the case. At the same time it's impossible to just pick a number and say everyone who commits a hate crime should go prison for that amount of time. There are a lot of factors that go into sentencing and that's why the sentencing guidelines are only suggestions. It is really important to consider mitigating and aggravating factors, prior record, and any other relevant information during sentencing proceedings. I think all sentences should continue to be determined on a case by case basis.
09/16/2011
Contributor: Starkiller87 Starkiller87
Ugh seriously I hate the justice system. I dont think they are hard enough. And I dont think a lot of people learn their lesson. We need some battle royale thing to go on. Not with school children, but no one fears prison anymore. Crime needs to be something youre scared to do. It makes me so mad how fucked up people are, and how much hate they have. Im so sorry for your friend, she shouldve never had to go through such intolerance.
09/16/2011
Contributor: P'Gell P'Gell
Quote:
Originally posted by Peggi
So, something terrible happened to someone who means a lot to me. Some of you may have heard about it, or perhaps not, but a young woman who is very important to me and has been in my life for 9 years finally managed to get "justice" for ... more
I'm so sorry this happened to your friend. Five years is not nearly long enough. I would think 25 years would be a good sentence for someone who harmed an other person this badly, plus 10 years for it being a hate crime.

I hope your friend heals well. I hate intolerance.
09/16/2011
Contributor: potstickers potstickers
I don't think jail will make a person become tolerant. Throw them in jail for life. They wouldn't come out "reformed" anyway.
09/16/2011
Contributor: Peggi Peggi
Thank you all for your opinions...and for the support! What is truly sad is that this girl who attacked my friend has done this before to a young mother taking her two daughters to dinner...at the same McDonald's where she attacked my friend! The woman dropped the charges after being harassed by the girl who was a teen at the time, and threatened, but after my friend's case started up, she has decided to pursue her case again. The woman who assisted my friend is pressing charges for the assault on herself as well, while trying to separate the fight.

In a way, I agree with potstickers, some people don't change with prison, this is a violent girl, she has been in trouble several times before for breaking and entering, assault on her neighbor's small children (I've spoken to him since the incident in April) and was a "trouble student" in school. I don't see the "justice" system fixing this one!

It's too sad! I am hoping eventually she will not be afraid to walk out of her home, even from the time we've spent together since then, I've had harassment from reporters trying to get "dirt" on her, following us into Taco Bell, etc.

Such a shame!
09/17/2011
Contributor: WierdAl WierdAl
Quote:
Originally posted by Peggi
So, something terrible happened to someone who means a lot to me. Some of you may have heard about it, or perhaps not, but a young woman who is very important to me and has been in my life for 9 years finally managed to get "justice" for ... more
I think it should be the same as using a gun in a crime; 25 years
09/18/2011
Contributor: KC Kitten KC Kitten
How is she doing? Last I heard there was an organization trying to help her out doing some sort of Chrissy Lee Polis fund?
11/01/2011
Contributor: Peggi Peggi
I'm guessing you're referring to the TransPanthers help she was getting? She ended up not really getting too much from them. Right now, she's doing alright. Thanks for asking

She's still afraid to go out by herself, and I don't know how long it will be before she feels safe...if ever!
11/01/2011
Contributor: Cherrylane Cherrylane
I think hate crimes are curious. It's one of the only times we make the presence of a certain type of thought a criminal act. Or say, a particular motivation.

There are times when I really want to see them prosecuted, and others when I feel like they should be treated like every other violent crime, taking the primary motivation away from the action. There's a part of me that thinks judging so-called hate crimes more harshly will only make those certain people even more hostile. Idk.

Needless to say, it should never have happened and it's terrible that it happened to your friend. I'm sincerely glad she's doing alright and that at least one of the people responsible has been dealt with. Best wishes to her.
11/01/2011
Contributor: AndroAngel AndroAngel
Personally, I think dangerous rabid people should be treated like dangerous animals and never see the light of day again. Crimes of passion are one thing, but hate crimes and clearly planned assaults should get a life sentence with regular trips to the stocks (we need those back) for the crowd to throw rotten veggies at them.
11/01/2011
Contributor: RonLee RonLee
Not one minute should have been suspended! Teonna Brown SHOULD SERVE every second of her ten year sentence!
11/01/2011
Contributor: Sex'и'Violence Sex'и'Violence
I can only re-iterate my previous stance on "hate crimes" as oppose to any other crime. I don't feel that any motive (real or perceived) makes a crime inherently worse.
11/01/2011
Contributor: Peggi Peggi
Quote:
Originally posted by RonLee
Not one minute should have been suspended! Teonna Brown SHOULD SERVE every second of her ten year sentence!
I agree fully. The only thing that gives me hope is that I know how bad the prison is that she is going to be in, and how supportive a lot of the inmates are of the situation. She is going to have about the same amount of luck as a child predator or someone who killed a puppy.
11/02/2011