{"id":1318,"date":"2007-04-07T17:51:45","date_gmt":"2007-04-07T17:51:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2007\/04\/07\/ok-then-intent\/"},"modified":"2007-04-07T17:51:45","modified_gmt":"2007-04-07T17:51:45","slug":"ok-then-intent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2007\/04\/07\/ok-then-intent\/","title":{"rendered":"OK, then, “intent”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

One nice thing about blogging is it gives us ordinary citizens the same prerogative that members of Congress enjoy to \"revise and extend\" our remarks.<\/p>\n

Several commenters argued that the previous post blurs the distinction between \"motive\" and \"intent<\/b>\" \u2014 and that rather than use these terms interchangeably, I ought to have used only \"intent<\/b>\" throughout.<\/p>\n

Fair enough. Let's do a universal search and replace:<\/p>\n

* * * * * * * * * <\/p>\n

Intent<\/b> is a monumentally important part of our criminal code. Identical deeds can be very different crimes if the intent<\/b> in the two cases are different. By intent<\/b>, of course, we mean what the criminal is thinking. \u2026<\/p>\n

Different intent<\/b>, different crimes and thus appropriately different punishments. Different thoughts,<\/i> different crimes and thus appropriately different punishments.<\/p>\n

The reason I chose Tony Perkins for this little review of the obvious is that Perkins doesn't believe in any of this. He thinks any consideration of intent<\/b> is out of bounds in a criminal statute. Different punishments for different intent<\/b> is, to Perkins, legislating \"thought crimes.\"<\/p>\n

Thus, Perkins believes, there is no legitimate difference among the cases above \u2014 no legitimate legal distinction between manslaughter and first-degree murder. To pretend there is such a distinction is to criminalize intent<\/b> \u2014 to criminalize thought.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

* * * * * * * * *<\/p>\n

The main point is unchanged. Intent matters. To pretend that hate-crimes are unique because they \"criminalize intent\" is to ignore that intent is a factor in almost every kind of crime. Intent can be a mitigating factor, or it can be an aggravating factor. It can be exculpatory, or it can implicate the suspect in additional crimes. This is nothing new.<\/p>\n

If someone beats up Person X, that's a crime. Assault is assault is assault. And it's certainly true, as Perkins and the FRC argue, that assault is already against the law. But if Person X was selected as a victim because the assailant intended to \"send a message\" \u2014 i.e.,<\/i> to terrorize \u2014 everyone else like Person X, then the assailant has not only committed one crime. In addition to the assault, the assailant has terrorized an entire community of people, and done so intentionally. That is also a crime and those victims too deserve justice and the protection of the law.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One nice thing about blogging is it gives us ordinary citizens the same prerogative that members of Congress enjoy to “revise and extend” our remarks. Several commenters argued that the previous post blurs the distinction between “motive” and “intent” \u2014 and that rather than use these terms interchangeably, I ought to have used only “intent” […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":111,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nOK, then, "intent"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"One nice thing about blogging is it gives us ordinary citizens the same prerogative that members of Congress enjoy to "revise and extend" our\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2007\/04\/07\/ok-then-intent\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"OK, then, "intent"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"One nice thing about blogging is it gives us ordinary citizens the same prerogative that members of Congress enjoy to "revise and extend" our\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2007\/04\/07\/ok-then-intent\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"slacktivist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-04-07T17:51:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Fred Clark\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Fred Clark\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2007\/04\/07\/ok-then-intent\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2007\/04\/07\/ok-then-intent\/\",\"name\":\"OK, then, \\\"intent\\\"\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2007-04-07T17:51:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2007-04-07T17:51:45+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/0173c85e46e7e0951fef5752bed78b6e\"},\"description\":\"One nice thing about blogging is it gives us ordinary citizens the same prerogative that members of Congress enjoy to "revise and extend" our\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2007\/04\/07\/ok-then-intent\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2007\/04\/07\/ok-then-intent\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2007\/04\/07\/ok-then-intent\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"OK, then, “intent”\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/\",\"name\":\"slacktivist\",\"description\":\""Test everything; hold fast to what is good."\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/0173c85e46e7e0951fef5752bed78b6e\",\"name\":\"Fred Clark\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e23731809f5a2c785d0416fc4211a51e?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e23731809f5a2c785d0416fc4211a51e?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Fred Clark\"},\"description\":\"Fred Clark is a graduate of Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary (now called Palmer Seminary), of Eastern College (now called Eastern University) and of the fundamentalist Timothy Christian High School (still fundamentalist and still called Timothy Christian High School, but not really thrilled to have a snarky, liberal, tree-hugging, pro-choice, pro-GLBT, peacenik, commie, evolutionist as such a vocal alumnus). 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