In the on-line magazine Slate, Eve Gerber writes, "The definition of a hate crime varies. Twenty-one states include mental and physical disability in their lists. Twenty-two states include sexual orientation. Three states and the District of Columbia impose tougher penalties for crimes based on political affiliation. "Studies conducted by state gender bias task forces show that state law enforcement persists in treating crimes committed against women less seriously than comparable crimes against men." Current law limits the potential for federal prosecutions of hate crimes, even when the crime is particularly abhorrent. Federal authorities cannot act on cases involving death or serious bodily injury based on gender, sexual orientation, or disability when local law enforcement is not available. Even with federal jurisdiction over gender-based hate crimes, the federal government's jurisdiction would remain limited to only the most violent gender-based hate crimes, as it is under current law.
The number of hate crimes committed daily is unknown because many hate crimes are either never reported or go unnoticed. Nevertheless, sometimes the victims of those acts go overboard and get greedy, suing the criminal for a hate crime when in truth the crime had no race, gender, or religious bias whatsoever. The petty crimes are getting out of proportion and the true reasons for committing the crime becomes irreverent and gets the label of a hate crime. The true crimes of hate become one of many and the nation gets confused of what is truly a hate crime. The dictionary defines a hate crime as "any of various crimes. when motivated by hostility to the victim as a member of a group (as one based on color, creed, gender, or sexual orientation)." With this definition, you could make almost any crime committed against different genders, races, skin color, or even sexual orientation into a hate crime. The average criminal does not think of whether or not his next victim should be a certain race, gender, etc.