I Just Love These Hate Crime Laws

They show such creativity in how they are enforced. Professor Volokh has a detailed account of a guy who stole two Korans from a Pace University "meditation room," put them in a toilet and, I'll be polite, soiled one of them. He was charged not only with criminal mischief, but also aggravated harassment--a violation of New York State's hate crime statute, because this crime offended Muslims.

This is most unfortunate. The accused should have applied for a National Endowment for the Arts grant instead, and called the results "art."

There's a slippery slope here, no question. If we limit "hate crimes" to just violence against persons, then acts of vandalism (cross burnings, spray painting slurs on someone's door) don't qualify. There is a legitimate argument that knowing that someone did this to a Koran might might make Muslims feel hated, I suppose. But this incident is really not like burning a cross on someone's lawn. It is perilously similar to burning an American flag, or producing stupid art for rich people.