The statistics released by An Garda Síochána on the level of “hate crime” in the state for 2022 make for interesting reading, particularly given that the alleged high and increasing number of such incidents are often cited as a justification for the proposed “hate speech” legislation.
It seems that in a year where 389 incidents were reported to and recorded by the Gardaí as a possible “hate crime,” just 11 of those processed to the end of September that year were categorised as actual “hate crimes.”
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It is virtually impossible to prove a hate crime without being able to read someone’s mind and determine their motives. Consider the case of a man murdering a woman. It may be motivated by jealousy, or sexual lust, or hatred but the crime is murder There is already a law and punishment prescribed for that. Hatred may also play a role in various crimes like assault and rape and defamation and false witness all leading to real harm but as in the case of murder there are already laws to prosecute and punish these. Why a new crime category called “hate crime” when it cannot be conclusively proved and depends on the whim of a Garda or Judge?
These things should be self evident, even to someone who is not a lawyer, so our Minister of Justice should know this. I wonder, however, if this is not about real crimes but a political manoeuvre to silence legitimate dissenting and critical voices. Brand their comments as being hateful and then have this new “hate crime” category to prosecute and silence them. This is also very selective in targeting the things she and her political allies find hateful but not the things her critics find hateful. This is a step down the road to tyranny. We need no hate crime and hate speech laws! Use the existing law!
Very good comment. Legislation against emotion is legislation against thought . As you quite rightly point out if a crime is committed it is already a crime in law and that is all legislators need to concern themselves with. The fact that they are not even able to provide a definition of hate within the legislation demonstrates that hate is a subjective concept and by extension the hate speech law is nebulous. There is no place for nebulous laws in a just society. There is of course an abundance of reasons for nebulous laws within oppressed societies from the perspective of that societies tyrannical regime.
Criminal law = beyond reasonable doubt
There is probably more hatred against people because of the views they hold or express on political and social issues than the grounds specified in the Bill.