"Since when was racist bullying the only 'wrong' form of bullying? "

[Upwind]

article here: Which is worse: bullying a child because they?re a) black, b) pretty, c) clever or d) they have big blubbery lips?...

Fair point IMHO, it irks me that public service adviertising against bullying, here in Scotland, seems to suggest it is wrong to torment someone only if it is on racist or homophobic grounds. Bullying is hateful in any form.

besom, "It is the reason why that boy was killed"

I know what you mean, but is it really though? If the bully lived in an all white community do we think he wouldn't have been attacking someone else. It may be 'a' reason he chose him rather than the person standing next to him, but probably not really THE reason if you see what I mean.

I'm with Edam here. Crimes against women aren't treated as hate crimes even though sometimes there is a misogynistic motive.
I'm not sure we should really be considering crimes so much in terms of the motive though. A murder is a murder is a murder, whether it's because of the colour of someone's skin or the fact that the assailant wanted their expensive watch their wallet and they wouldn't give it to him.

posh (great name, btw) I mean has the judicial system ever actually treated any offence against women or people with disabilities as motivated by hatred or prejudice and then recognised this as an aggravating factor? In the same way that racially-aggravated crimes are punished more severely?

Because my impression, as someone who keeps up with the news, is that disability and gender just aren't regarded in the same light as race by the courts.

And on the wider issue of the hierarchy of prejudice, just look at the Fathers For Justice thread - apparently quite normal people still feel entirely comfortable talking about 'man hating feminists'.

I don't think you should get extra punishment because of your motive, whether that be sexism, racism, homophobia, football tribalism etc.

The law should not police motives, only behaviour.

actually, the court is informed where a crime has been motivated by hatred on the grounds of disbility, and a greater sentence would usually be given out, as it is an aggravating factor. the difference between this and racist motivation (at the moment at least) is that only racial aggravation can be reflected in the charge itself. In the same way there is no specific charge where there has been a sexist motivation, but it would be seen as a poweful aggravating feature. Where such a crime was committed in a domestic setting it is also often dealt with in a specialist court-in the Magistrates Court one where the Magistrates have received specialist training.

My DS was attacked outside school by a group of 'over' ten Asian youths, bundled to the floor, stomped on, spat on and generally given a good kicking, his 'crime' their 'motive' he was a podgy 'white' kid.

Apparently that does not constitute a 'race' crime or considered to be racially motivated even though 'white ' was heard during the attack. The only reason he was not seriously hurt is two guy's came to his rescue.

The school did nothing but exclude each for a few days ( for their own safety ). The police wouldn't even look at it.

It's apparently only a race crime if your not white.

How old were the kids, Atlantis?

It's shocking, but if they were under 10, then there's not a lot the police could do anyway due to the age of criminal responsibility. (Although in your shoes I would have written to the governors quoting the Dept for Children guidance on racial bullying...)

This is secondary school Edam, the children were aged 14.

I spoke to the govenors who informed me that they backed the heads decision and could find nothing wrong as this could not be seen as a 'racist' attack and just a schoolyard scrap ( 10 asians - 1 white ).

Bloody hell.

I'm not sure exactly how common that is, but I know someone that happened to. Attacked and threatened with murder by Asian gang, HT and police not remotely interested until parent waved LEA and media at them. Once they realised that she was going to cause a major fuss they realised it was a racial attack after all. That was about six or seven years ago though, I thought things had changed since then.