system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
CMV:I don't understand the need for hate crime laws

Let me start by saying that I am liberal and in a protected class, so I don't feel unsympathetic to victims of hate crimes. What I don't understand (and after discussing it with a friend now realize that I have never really understood) is why a similar crime against a protected group should be punished in a different way. Maybe it is because I don't believe in the preventive nature of increased punishment, but to me it is sufficient that the crime is punished, and if the horrific nature of the crime merits increased punishment it should merit that punishment across the board, regardless of who the victim is.

e: Thank you to everyone for the discourse in this thread, I'm replying as quickly as possible to people but you've all been great and given me a lot to think about!
gpt
Some crimes have an increased severity when viewed in the context of hate toward a certain group.  For example, if you set a fire in someone's yard, you can be charged with destruction of property (assuming it doesn't burn the house down or something). 

If you instead light a cross in a black person's yard and stand across the street wearing KKK garb, then one could easily argue that you've actually done more than simply set a small fire.  Something that isn't tangible.  You've intimidated a family into fearing for their lives.  And that's only true because of the context in which you committed a crime which was otherwise just setting a little fire to some wood.