55. Punishment Dependent Only On the Crime Itself
Penalties for crimes should generally not be influenced by where the crime was committed, whom it was committed against, why it was committed, or where the case is tried. In other words, there should not be a separate category of crimes, such as ‘hate crimes’ with punishments that are automatically higher than ‘regular’ crimes. Also, trials held in state courts should not, as a matter of statute, yield different penalties than those same crimes tried in federal courts.