Hate Crimes

There’s been a lot of talk the past few days about Hate Crimes. I can’t really say I necessarily care to add on years to a sentence for someone who killed someone for being gay as opposed to being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or for money. Also, while not a student of any hate crime (no, really), just based on what I would think in my own head I would view someone who killed someone JUST BECAUSE the person was, for instance, gay is 1) kinda crazy-ish 2) driven to do so in a fit of passion/blinded by hate. By it's very definition, the word “hate” lends itself to notions of passion/not thinking straight, no? Can you really legislate emotion? And ironically, we tend to give LEANER sentences to killers who 1) are crazy 2) act in the heat of passion. So I fail to see how by any of it's own logic, the law could add time to a sentence in such a case, or view it to be any more harsh than it already is.