In recent years, more and more hate crime legislation has been enacted throughout the country. The unique thing about hate crimes is that they are so vile that they should occupy their own particular category in the arena of criminal law and be a charge levied in and of itself in addition to the parallel crime. This paper contains an in-depth discussion of hate crimes. It defines hate crimes and looks at the pros and cons of enacting hate crime laws. It also examines whether or not hate crime laws should be enacted by the state or federal government.
