In Most Cases, a Person's Motive for Committing a Crime

Essay

In most cases, a person's motive for committing a crime is irrelevant-a court will not try toread the accused's mind. over the past few decades, however, nearly every state and the federal government have passed hate crime laws that make the suspect's motive an important attendant circumstance tohis or her criminal act. In general, hate crime laws provide for greater sanctions against those whocommit crimes motivated by bias against a person based on race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or age. As a federal prosecutor in the northern district of Virginia, you have been presented with a case that involves a 19-year old Caucasian college student whois a recent Muslim convert whohas been posting pro-ISIS and anti-Christian comments on his Facebook page, advocating "death tothose whodonot follow Allah." Based on his months of posting these types of hate-filled messages, one of his many Facebook followers, a 17-year old boy, walked intoa Baptist Church one Sunday morning and opened fire, killing twochurchgoers. The young boy was arrested, and during his questioning, he admitted that he was inspired by the pro-ISIS sympathizer's Facebook posts. As a federal prosecutor, what charges (if any)doyou bring against the shooter, and more importantly, the pro-ISIS convert whowas using Facebook tospread anti-Christian propaganda?