© True Light Christian Church/Facebook
On Saturday morning members of the True Light Christian Church arrived at their place of worship to find that vandals had tagged the building with nazi symbols and other messages such as "toxic love" and "my honor" written in German. Police were called to the church and they are investigating the vandalism as a possible hate crime.
Speaking to local news Buena Park police Sgt. Mike Lovchik said "unknown suspects had used spray paint to deface an outside wall with swastikas and other markings ... there is no indication as to why this location was targeted, but based on the nature of the vandalism and the proximity to the church, this is being investigated as a possible hate crime."
The church had previously been targeted by similar acts of vandalism with member Peter Lee telling The Orange County Register that they have already spent over $1,000 cleaning up after similar acts this year. However Lee said this latest attack represents a new low: "that's just not a pretty sight to see," he said. The investigation is ongoing.
© nbclosangeles.com
The crime is vandalism. That is it.
Motivation is only considerable when asking about why a particular act was commited. The act itself is the punishable offense, not the criminal's likes or dislikes.
By the same logic a crime commited out of felling of "love" would necessitate a lighter sentence. So when I kill my local gas station attendant because I love him and cannot stand to see him ignorantly participating in the rape and destruction of the world, am I to be let off with probation? Maybe a stern talking to. After all, I loved the guy.
If I blow up the local candy maker's production facility because I love children and weak willed adults. Ravaged by emotion and concern for all the people with diabetes.Motivated by intense love and EMPATHY I could see no recourse. Of course this was a violent and destructive act,but hey, it was a LOVE CRIME.
They have been doing this for years with the war on drugs. Adding charges of "intent" to distribute. Ridiculous. Either it was distributed and the crime stopped at the point of occurance or it wasn't. How can a cop, judge, prosecutor or jury member have any standing to rule on "intent"?
Thought crime for the artificially intelligent.