Should honor killings in the US be prosecuted as 'hate crimes'?

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

This poll was inspired by the VJ thread on honor killings - http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=48427.

The type of honor killing I am referring to in this poll concerns the killing of a female for supposed sexual or marital offences, typically by her own relatives with the justification of restoring 'honor' to the family name (thank you, Wikipedia).

[Jenn! 918]

I said no. A hate crime is a crime committed based solely upon some aspect of the victim that is out of their control (race, sexuality, gender), not based on a behavior. While I do not agree with honor killings, I recognize that they are a response to an act.

Honor killings with no evidence may be a different story, however. I could see that as being simply hatred towards women.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

The victims of honor killings (these days) are disproportionately female. I know plenty of Arabs and Muslims and anecdotally speaking, it's my observation that the men philander a lot more than the women do. It makes sense to me that by singling out women for punishment, the people who do this are revealing a bias against women.

That, to me, fits the description of a hate crime. But then again, I'm no lawyer.