The Long Beach "Hate Crimes"

I don't know if this story got much play outside the greater L.A. area, but much of the press here was focused yesterday on the trial of 10 black youths (I think 9 were girls) who were charged with the beating of 3 white girls on Halloween night in an affluent section of Long Beach. Hate crimes were charged because the 3 victims were apparently set upon because of their race.
Nine of the 10 defendents were found guilty yesterday in a juvenile court proceeding, and frankly, that probably only happened because there's no jury in juvenile court. The decision is made by the judge alone after hearing evidence. I'm not sure there would have been a conviction if the trial included "a jury of their peers" (we've had some bad experiences with juries around here in recent years).

The city law enforcement leaders were apparently ready for an outbreak of violence should a guilty verdict have come in (I wish I'd known that before I booked a hotel for two nights in Long Beach), but thankfully there were no incidents. The post-trial scene was pretty typical for Los Angeles, though. All but one of the defendent's families went before the cameras to basically call the judge a racist and suggest that their kids were convicted only because they were black. Sorry, I'm not buying it.

These kids may come from good families - I don't know. I saw a lot of moms expressing their outrage, but not a lot of dads. I wonder how many of these kids live in what has become the typical black family that doesn't include a father. Could that have contributed to the problems?

I did see one dad who was the only one who both accepted the verdict and made the most rational statements about it. He hoped his daughter would learn something from this and would apologize for her actions. That was certainly refreshing to hear.

I've long been opposed to the whole concept of "hate crime" legislation. I believe you should punish a person for their acts, not their thoughts. The fight I witnessed last night would not be prosecuted as a "hate crime" because both parties were black, but do you think they hated each other at that moment? Sure they did. That's why I think hate crimes legislation is silly.

It looks like calm will prevail and that's good because I have some serious sightseeing to do in Long Beach today.

UPDATE: Justice Takes a Day Off in Long Beach. Probation sentences for hate crimes.