Defining hate crime

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Guests: Emily Bazelon, Daniel Filler, and Heidi Beirich

On Sunday, three people were shot dead outside a Jewish community center near Kansas City, Missouri.  The man charged with their murder is 73-year-old Frazier Glenn Miller, a prominent white supremacist.  The United States Attorney for Kansas says Miller will also face federal hate crime charges.  Free speech protection makes the categorization of hate crimes challenging, and critics say legislation does little to deter extremist violence.  We’ll examine the law on hate crimes, and the prevalence and motivations behind them.  Joining us are Emily Bazelon, Senior Editor at Slate magazine, Daniel FillerSenior Associate Dean at Drexel University School of Law, and Heidi Beirich, Director of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s quarterly investigative journal, The Intelligence Project.

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