Los homicidios por odio son unánimemente considerados más graves que los homicidios comunes. Esto podría deberse a que suelen manifestarse de un modo extremadamente violento. Pero una caracterización así de su gravedad no logra captar lo realmente relevante de estos delitos. Estos no se destacan por su modalidad comisiva, sino por los motivos del agente. El problema de una agravante basada en la mera motivación individual es, empero, que parece acercarnos demasiado a un derecho penal de autor. Lo correcto es indagar qué es lo que esos motivos están señalando. Estos señalan una idea de sometimiento. Lo que distingue a los homicidios por odio es que el autor mata porque la víctima no vive conforme a los parámetros que aquel considera correctos. Esto no sucede en los homicidios comunes. La idea de sometimiento no tiene que ver, en realidad, con la mera motivación del autor. Antes bien, modifica el hecho cometido tornándolo en algo más grave.

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Homicides committed because of hate as crime of subjugation

Homicides committed because of hate are unanimously considered as something more serious than a common homicide. This may be so because they are normally perpetrated in an extremely violent way. But such as characterization of their seriousness cannot capture what is really relevant in these crimes. They are not significant because of the way in which they are committed, but for the motives the agent has to commit the crime. The problem of aggravating a crime because of the mere individual motives of the subject is that it brings us very close to an illiberal criminal law, a criminal law that punishes the mental state of the author rather than the crime itself. The right thing to do is to elucidate what the motives are pointing at. They are pointing at an idea of subjugation. What distinguishes homicides committed for hate is that the author kills the victim because he doesn’t live according to the standards of living that the author considers appropriate. This doesn’t happen in common homicides. The idea of subjugation has not actually to do with the mere motives of the author; it rather modifies the deed transforming it in something more serious.