On the other hand Swedish and Norwegian girls have been harassed and raped for being Swedish and Norwegian. In Scandinavia hate crime laws don't apply to the majority, though. They do in the US, however.
Fair should be fair.
If they are raped as some sort of sadistic punishment
for being white, then yes, it is a hate crime. If they are raped because they were hot - then it's a rape, and should also be harshly punished - much more than it currently is (but that is another discussion).
I think people - both modernly and in the past - take the concept of killing too easily, and this attitude is supported world wide by ideas of heavens and afterlives. To ruin someones life, either by ending it, or by crippling someone, or destroying them mentally, should grant the perpetrator _very_ harsh penalties - much MUCH more than any other kind of crime, be it economic or other. It's as if global society as a whole still is not quite convinced people only have 1 life each. As if subconciously we are confident everyone will get further oportunities in "next lives".
Unless violence has been dealt in true desperation, I am inclined to propose life-in-prison for most kinds of cases.
Any violence that is "above and beyond" what's expected (serial killers, spree killers, massacres, child-rape) represent the only exceptions to my anti-death-stance. These individuals should simply be removed from the fabric of reality.
*harsh
*
Rage: yes. In the name of pragmatism, all these common-sense-nesses actually do need to be written down. People are morons, remember?