[ellewoodings]

After reading a lot about people in the UK going to prison for racism, i was shocked.
Personally, i do not think racism should be a crime, purely for the fact that racism is an opinion, and whilst it is generally considered to be a wrong opinion ( I believe it is wrong to be racist so no hate please), it is wrong that we can punish people for their own opinion, and send them to prison just because of something they believe. Surely punishing someone for their beliefs is wrong, and it's just as bad as things like punishing someone for their religion.
Am i the only one who thinks this or do others agree?

EDIT: Another thing to discuss, if you are sentenced to a crime, if it is deemed that the crime you committed was racially aggravated, then you get double the sentence as if it weren't. Do you think this is right? Personally i don't, because if it was for murder, that is basically saying that their life is more valuable than someone else's, and who can have the right to put a value on a life?

[Panda Bear]

Being a racist alone isn't a crime. Acting upon it, is.

[AtomSmasher]

People don't go to prison for holding an intolerant opinion, they go to prison for manifesting that opinion in the form of hate crime - something that definitely should be illegal.

[ellewoodings]

(Original post by Panda Bear)
Being a racist alone isn't a crime. Acting upon it, is.

But what do you count as acting upon it? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racial_...atred_Act_2006 Look at that page, it tells you about the racial and religious hatred act, which says that racial/religious hatred in itself is a crime. Also, a lot of people have been sent to jail, simply for stating their beliefs. Not doing anything harmful like beating up someone because they are racist, just saying racist things. Surely that is wrong?

[Damask-]

You can't punish someone for having an opinion, but if they act on that opinion and discriminate or commit racially motivated attacks then they deserve to be punished.

[Damask-]

(Original post by ellewoodings)
But what do you count as acting upon it? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racial_...atred_Act_2006 Look at that page, it tells you about the racial and religious hatred act, which says that racial/religious hatred in itself is a crime. Also, a lot of people have been sent to jail, simply for stating their beliefs. Not doing anything harmful like beating up someone because they are racist, just saying racist things. Surely that is wrong?

"Saying racist things" is still offensive though.

[ellewoodings]

(Original post by AtomSmasher)
People don't go to prison for holding an intolerant opinion, they go to prison for manifesting that opinion in the form of hate crime - something that definitely should be illegal.

Saying what your opinion is is not a crime, which is what a lot of people are going to prison for, fair enough if you kill someone because of their race then that should definitely be illegal, but just saying what you think, i just don't see how that can be prison worthy...

[ellewoodings]

(Original post by Damask-)
"Saying racist things" is still offensive though.

Yes, but offending someone isn't a crime, like stating your opinion isn't.

[The Polymath]

(Original post by ellewoodings)
Saying what your opinion is is not a crime, which is what a lot of people are going to prison for, fair enough if you kill someone because of their race then that should definitely be illegal, but just saying what you think, i just don't see how that can be prison worthy...

Yep, it's outrageous for someone to go to prison for saying "I think Canadians tend to have smaller feet".

When you start acting on racism, though, that should be and is a crime. For example, if I decided to filter potential employees by race.

[GdotL]

(Original post by ellewoodings)
Saying what your opinion is is not a crime, which is what a lot of people are going to prison for, fair enough if you kill someone because of their race then that should definitely be illegal, but just saying what you think, i just don't see how that can be prison worthy...

Perhaps in a lot of these cases, these people could have caused others to do violent acts or ignoring them could have been seen as deeming their opinions as publically acceptable?

[The Polymath]

(Original post by ellewoodings)
Yes, but offending someone isn't a crime, like stating your opinion isn't.

Actually, I believe it is. Someone was charged for saying someone's horse was gay.

[ellewoodings]

Don't be offended if i argue with what you are saying, i'm just trying to make you think about what you are actually saying a bit more!

[TheHansa]

Holding racist opinions isn't a crime but actually acting upon those opinions is because it causes harm, people can't really change what they believe but we can choose whether or not we knowingly cause others pain and grief.

[ellewoodings]

(Original post by Junaid96)
Actually, I believe it is. Someone was charged for saying someone's horse was gay.

haha, when and where was this? As far as i was aware it isn't a crime to simply offend somebody, maybe they got done for homophobia or something

[tieyourmotherdown]

It's not a crime per-se. It is illegal to incite hatred on the basis of race, so for example standing in the centre of town shouting racist comments and calling for racial attacks would be illegal, however if you had a public discussion and aired racist views (as does often happen on political talk shows), I don't think you can be prosecuted. It's quite a subjective difference I guess, but I hope that clears it up a little.

Either way I agree with the current legislation. Having racist opinions shouldn't be a crime as that would be a complete invasion of freedom of speech, however I can see the value in laws that prohibit hate speech, not just on race but also religion, sexuality, disability status etc.

[The Polymath]

(Original post by ellewoodings)
haha, when and where was this? As far as i was aware it isn't a crime to simply offend somebody, maybe they got done for homophobia or something

I just typed in "arrested horse gay" into Google and it was the first result. You can't have tried that hard http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/o...re/4606022.stm Public Order Act, I thought so. Loads of stuff is illegal under it

[Damask-]

(Original post by ellewoodings)
Yes, but offending someone isn't a crime, like stating your opinion isn't.

It's a really fine line, because it's never as simple as just saying things. What's said can be perceived as threatening or intimidating, even if it wasn't intended to be. Hostility can turn into anger. Having racist slurs shouted at you in the street for example may not cause you physical harm and obviously doesn't deserve prison, but I think people who repeatedly do things like that should have to do some kind of community service.

It's the same old argument as you have in schools; bullying like that doesn't make 'make you stronger' or any of that ****, it just leads to resent and anger.

[Norton1]

(Original post by Junaid96)
Actually, I believe it is. Someone was charged for saying someone's horse was gay.

(Original post by ellewoodings)
haha, when and where was this? As far as i was aware it isn't a crime to simply offend somebody, maybe they got done for homophobia or something

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/o...re/4606022.stm

[miser]

The day the government can convict you of thoughtcrime is the day we can kiss our freedom goodbye.

[Panda Bear]

(Original post by ellewoodings)
But what do you count as acting upon it? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racial_...atred_Act_2006 Look at that page, it tells you about the racial and religious hatred act, which says that racial/religious hatred in itself is a crime. Also, a lot of people have been sent to jail, simply for stating their beliefs. Not doing anything harmful like beating up someone because they are racist, just saying racist things. Surely that is wrong?

Didn't read the article, but I doubt they were sent to prison for only stating their belief. They probably verbally attacked someone, which is wrong.