A Quick Note On "Thought Crime"

From Crooked Timber:

"Practically all crime is ‘thought crime’ in the good ol’ common law sense of the Latin phrase actus non facit reum nisi mens sit rea – ‘the act does not make guilt unless the mind be guilty.’ If we were to take a strict liability approach to all violent crime we would be obliged to place wrongful death on a par with premeditated murder. (After all, it’s not as though the lives of those killed accidentally are worth less.)"

The occasion of these musings being the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act which recently passed the U.S. House of Representatives.

The Speechies Will Be All Over This One

...because of course the logic behind "tougher penalties for honour killings" must surely be the same logic that lies behind hate crime legislation.

As for myself, I don't know. If a fairly rigorous definition of an honour killing can be given, then maybe. Trouble is, the word gets tossed around rather wildly. The thing in Kingston sounds as a bit like a guy bumping off his wife for a younger woman, a crime which is not culture specific.