A crime is a crime and needs to be punished as such. So what makes 'Hate Crimes' any worse than other crimes?

Punishment for 'Hate Crimes' is harsher because they are premeditated based on a hatred that has developed for a particular group
Because it buys votes from people that feel like victims. And votes are ALL a politician cares about.


Answers:
Before you beat somebody up be sure to tell him that you love him. You'll save yourself the 5 extra years.
By making the laws harsher for hate crimes, you send a clear message to people who have thought about assaulting someone (for example) because of their race or sexual preference.
Many crimes have penalty enhancements associated with them related to the choice of victim. For example, if you commit certain crimes against a child or a law enforcement officer there are additional penalties added to your punishment. Often intimate partner violence is punished more severely under our domestic violence laws than the same act of violence against a stranger would be punished under our laws.

Hate crimes are usually violent crimes that have had a penalty enhancement added to them, because the victim was chosen because of their race, religion, sexual orientation or some other characteristic. Hate crimes almost always are meant to not only terrorize the victim, but a whole group of people who share the same characteristic as the victim. For example, the burning of a synagogue is probably not only directed to the members of that synagogue, but to all Jews in that community. While all acts of arson should be punished, many people think that using arson as a way to terrorize a particular class of people and tell them that they are not welcome, because of their religion or some other inherent characteristic, is particularly abhorrent and worthy of additional punishment.

That's why many violent crimes are eligible for additional penalty enhancements if the prosecutor can prove that, but for the perpetrator's bias against a particular group of people, the crime would not have been committed. As you might expect, it is pretty tough to prove someone's motivation for committing a crime, so hate crime penalty enhancements are rarely applied to crimes. When they are used, they are used for prosecuting particularly egregious acts that have terrorized not only the victim, but a whole community of people.
I understand where you are going here. The main reason is the intent factor. A hate crime is defined as a crime against a certain group of individuals or against an individual because of there race, sex, disability, gender(feminine or masculine), sexual preferences(gay, straight, bi, etc.),etc. These crimes need to be punished harder due they are against a group instead of the individual person. What I mean by that is, they are targeted on a person due there difference, and not just because they do not like a certain person. It is a big factor that needs to be stopped. More punishment is a try at that goal. Will it work, I do not know. It is a try which must be done.
I am opposed to hate crime legislation. I agree with you. If it's a crime, it should be punished and carry the same penalties for everyone.
Because Al Sharpton thinks any crime against the blacks is a hate crime.
I thought all violent crimes were hate crimes.
Nothing except that politicians have designated crimes under that heading that are committed against a certain segment of the population, such as gays, jews, etc.