Would she want to be glorified as a victim? We will never know. All I know is my feed has been covered in posts because she died 8 years ago. Did any of these people know her? Would they even know who she is if she were say hit by a car? No.

There are plenty of other victims of violent crime we hear nothing about. But somehow being goth/alternative makes her special. So attacking people based on their appearance must now be an official "hate crime".

I'm not going to bag her mother for pushing for it. If I were her and it was my daughter I'd likely do the same thing. It helps give some semblance of meaning to her daughter’s senseless death. She has also been the cause of some legal change in UK which is good.

But as for attacking subcultures being hate crimes... aren't all violent crimes hate crimes? All violent crime should be punished severely. Who the victim is should never matter. Violent crime is violent crime is violent crime.

Say I'm a violent jerk with a few beers in me and a chip on my shoulder. I'm looking for a fight. I am looking for a target - any target - to take my anger out on. I happen to find a goth first in the most ideal conditions to get away with giving them a swift kicking. That happens to be a poorly-litpark, few or no witnesses. That goth could have just as easily been anyone. It’s a target of opportunity.

I'm not defending the guys who did it (they went to jail where they belong) but I'm questioning if the motive that such attacks should be labelled as hate crimes. It assumes goths/alternative people are minorities where the reality is we find our music, style and way of life empowering. We are not victims by default and we choose to do what we do.