Expound please.
Why? It's a concise statement. The criminal justice system is largely structured to the rights of the accused because it has to be, innocent until proven guilty and all. Sentencing is also structured to the accused and how bad the degree of their thoughts. It doesn't matter if victims suffer the same damage; charges and sentences are based on the degree of the accused's thought processes.
I don't think it is, that's what I mean. I am unfamiliar with how you are arriving at this conclusion. All crimes require a Mens Rea (a guilty mind). Traditionally no one can be convicted of a crime they did not intend to commit. This is getting muddled by new strict liability standards, but the courts will generally only uphold those at the level of an infraction as the Constitution requires adequate due process, meaning that one has to know (or have ample opportunity to know) that their action was a crime. So yes, each criminal had to intend his actions, but that is not the same as differentiating the crime based on the motivation for his actions.
This sounds like you are agreeing with me.
No, it's a question. What makes hate crime penalties any different than premeditated crimes getting stricter penalty than a crime of passion or opportunity?
Hate crime penalties are enhancements, not crimes unto themselves. They don't have elements that have to be met, they simply say that the exact same action taken by two different people is going to be punished differently based on what we THINK you were thinking at the time.
The only premeditated crime I can think of right now is murder, and the genesis of that difference is rooted in the gravity of the crime. If causing another person's death was enough to qualify one for the maximum punishment (your own death) then we would be executing everyone from somewhat neglectful new mothers to corporate executives who trim costs on the ignition switches they install in your vehicle. The premeditated standard used to classify first-degree murder is not an enhancement to murder, it is a tool to take most deaths out of the realm of a capital crime.