Hate crime law plan ‘a mockery of the law and the disabled’
November 18th, 2007Robert Shrimsley, writing in the Financial Times, says British plans for a disability hate crime law are unreasonable.
It is hard to resist the idea that this is really about preventing mockery. Because, other than comedians, and scriptwriters who put villains in wheelchairs, it is hard to think of the kinds of incitement envisaged by the new law.
… laws like this influence behaviour in insidious ways by creating an underlying fear of a new thought crime. In this atmosphere, the BBC cuts a Little Britain sketch for fear of being prosecuted, or a comedian is denied use of council facilities because in 1984 he made a joke about crutches. In a scriptwriters’ meeting producers wonder whether the villain couldn’t be more able-bodied …
What is lost is not the really outrageous bile that would never have made it anyway, but material that might give offence. So little by little this is an assault on freedom, because even the disabled do not have a constitutional right not to be offended. Or at least, they didn’t until now.
See earlier posts here and here.
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on Sunday, November 18th, 2007 at 11:32 am and is filed under hate crimes, international, law.
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November 21st, 2007 at 11:45 am
I wanted to comment on this hate crime article and also draw attention to an editorial that came out in the L.A. Times about a month prior that also stated that the inclusion of disability into hate crimes law is “unreasonable.”
I have linked to the original articles and provide commentary in my podcast. The belief that people with disabilities cannot be victims of hate crimes is a fallacy and one that leads to increased vulnerability for these populations and a continued lack of legal enforcement.
http://dayinwashington.com/?p=62