Saturday - April 06, 2013

emphasis on members of ‘alternative identity sub-cultures

I clearly recall this case due to the nature of the violent attack and the death of a young girl who had been kicked and stomped to death.  The reports said she had hardly any face left by the time help arrived.  Her boyfriend had been attacked and was on the ground, she went to help him and cradled him and the thugs turned on her.  And all because they thought she and her boyfriend looked like freaks.  Well, they might have. She certainly didn’t look good to me with that hair and all the studs in her face.  Hell, if you don’t like someone’s looks, ignore them. Turn away.  OK, if you really feel compelled to tell them they look stupid, go ahead.  But beating innocent ppl to death based on nothing more than how they appear seems to be a bit over the top.  On the other hand, just how many “Hate Crimes” will now be added to the list?  And why the hell should the fact that one hates someone enough to kill or injure, carry a bigger jail term then killing someone in a robbery or anger or just because the killer thought it was fun?  The victims are just as dead or injured, often for life. 

Manchester police said the change would enable officers to give more support to victims of anti-punk or anti-Goth crime. But it won’t necessarily mean tougher sentences.

sure. but that’s where it’ll end betya. and why would the family of someone killed in cold blood require more support than someone murdered for any other reason? For example, the mother of a young girl who called her mom telling her she was being stabbed by the ex boyfriend. And yeah, she died. So her mother would require less support since her daughter’s death was not a hate crime in the sense the authority here uses that term.

And WTF is an emos?  Yeah, yeah. I can look it up.

I believe the mention here re. punks is in relation to punk rockers? As opposed to how we use that term in the USA.  But to be truthful, from what I saw of a group of them once on a ferry, I wouldn’t say there is any difference. But that’s my impression.

Hate crime: Police record attacks on punks, emos and goths

A police force has begun recording attacks on members of subcultures, such as goths and emos, as hate crimes.

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) is the first force in the UK to treat the offences in such a way.

Previously hate crimes were only registered for offences against race, religion, disability, sexual orientation or transgender identity.

GMP has worked with a charity set up following the murder of 20-year-old goth Sophie Lancaster in 2007.

Ms Lancaster was attacked in a park in Bacup, Lancashire, on 24 August 2007, along with her boyfriend Robert Maltby, because of the way they were dressed.

She was kicked and stamped on as she cradled her badly beaten boyfriend.

While Mr Maltby made a partial recovery from his injuries, Ms Lancaster slipped into a coma after the attack and died later in hospital

BBC home affairs correspondent Tom Symonds said offences motivated by hatred for the victim’s race, religion, sexual orientation, disability or transgender identity could receive higher sentences.

But, our correspondent said, without a change in legislation, police in Greater Manchester can do little more than record subculture hate as an element in a crime.

Assistant Chief Constable Garry Shewan said this new understanding of hate crime was a “major breakthrough”, adding: “This means that we can recognise the impact that alternative subculture hate crime has on its victims and the wider community.

“Any crime motivated by hate is an insidious and evil crime and I hope other forces will follow our lead.

“We need to make a stance here and say clearly, in memory of Sophie, protecting the victims of hate crime should extended beyond those the law already safeguards.”

However, former director of public prosecutions, Lord Macdonald, said he had reservations about changing the legal definition of a hate crime.

He said: “People’s racial origins, their religion, their sexual orientation, people’s dignity in the face of disability - these have been lines in the sand with the law saying, look, these are crimes that threaten social cohesion as a whole and therefore national life.

“I’m a little cautious about watering down this concept.”

Ryan Herbert and Brendan Harris, both from Bacup, were jailed for life in 2008 for Miss Lancaster’s murder and for causing grievous bodily harm to Mr Maltby.

Sentencing them, Judge Anthony Russell QC said: “This was a hate crime against these completely harmless people targeted because their appearance was different to yours.”

H/T BBC NEWS

The new rules aren’t designed to protect society from gangs of punks and heavy metal headbangers.
They’ve been drawn up to protect them from the rest of society.

If you’ve ever been to a heavy metal concert, the audience won’t have struck you as all that ‘vulnerable’. Upset one of them and you’ll probably end up with a motorcycle chain wrapped round your head. And that’s just the women.

According to the latest figures available, in January there were 25,411 crimes reported in Greater Manchester, including 2,500 burglaries, 10,800 incidents of anti-social behaviour and another 2,500 involving violence.

I wonder how many victims of violent crimes were drawn from the goth, punk, heavy metal or emo communities? Precisely. So why this sudden emphasis on members of ‘alternative identity sub-cultures’?

READ MORE OF LITTLEJOHN’S TAKE ON THE SUBJECT

Posted by peiper     on 04/06/2013 at 10:47 AM   
Filed Under: • Crime • Judges-Courts-Lawyers •  
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