Prosecuting Hate Crimes

Federal authorities are still deciding whether to charge the mass shooting in Atlanta two weeks ago as a hate crime. But hate crimes are traditionally very difficult to prosecute in America. So why try? Isn’t murder heinous enough to merit the harshest punishment, whether or not it was motivated by hate for a specific race or religion? Amos Guiora is a professor of law at the University of Utah and author of “The Crime of Complicity: The Bystander in the Holocaust.” (AP Photo/Candice Choi, File)