That's a problem in any closed community, Ake, not just Tinkers. In the U.S., we've had youth gangs, and Jewish and Italian Mafia organizations. You can't punish every youth or Jew or Italian or whatever for crimes committed by their group. It takes hard work on the part of police agencies, but society has a right to expect police agencies to respect civil rights in spite of the difficulties that causes for police investigations.

I think hate crime laws are a good thing. Once upon a time in the not-too-distant past, crimes that were an expression of hatred from the majority were sometimes not punished at all - because the majority condoned such hate crimes. Blacks and Jews and others lived in fear of lynchings and beatings and firebombings - white people didn't have to put up with that fear. The fear is a secondary effect of a crime, but it can often be as damaging as the direct effect of the primary action.

Ten years ago, two men firebombed all three synagogues in Sacramento, California, where I lived. They were caught a year later, when they murdered a gay couple. Because of these crimes, the gay and Jewish communities of the area lived in fear for a long time, and the effects still linger. Yeah, I think there should be additional punishment for such crimes, because hate crimes cause a terrible additional effect.

-Joe-