There were two liberal politicians who went walking down the road one day and came across a man who had been beaten and robbed. The first politician turned to the second and said excitedly: “We need to find the man who committed this crime; he needs help!”

Jokes like this sum up the liberal attitude on the crime issue. They often seem to be much more concerned with the welfare of criminals than with the welfare of victims.

Ten years ago, the difference between liberal and conservative policies on crime was an issue that attracted national attention during a political campaign.

That was when people first heard the name of Willie Horton.

Willie Horton was a convicted murderer who was serving a life sentence for stabbing a person to death during a robbery. Under a prison policy in place in Massachusetts, he was given a weekend pass to leave prison on his own recognizance. On Monday, he was to report back.

During the weekend that he was on vacation from prison, Willie Horton kidnapped a young couple from a neighboring state. He stabbed the man and repeatedly raped his girlfriend.

A campaign commercial in support of George Bush during the 1988 election featured Horton. It showed differences between the crime policies of Bush and Dukakis. It showed how the policies supported by Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis allowed the violent crimes committed by Horton during his weekend out of prison to take place.

The ad was condemned as racist because Horton was black, and it was pulled from the air because of that controversy. Even today, liberal academics will bring up the Horton ad as an example of racism by conservatives.

You can make up your own mind about it. I have placed a Quicktime version of the Horton ad on my ISU homepage (http://www.public.iastate.edu/~dilbert).

Today crime has again come up as a political issue. The murder of

Matthew Shepard in Wyoming has led to calls for hate crime legislation.

At first glance, it would appear that the tables have turned. That is, are liberals actually pushing for harsher penalties for criminals than conservatives? Are liberals now “stronger on the crime issue?”

Nope. The conservatives I’ve heard from have said that this is a classic case of first-degree murder. The appropriate punishment for Shepard’s killers would be the death penalty.

It is hard to argue that a more severe penalty is necessary, and I would wager that the death penalty is opposed by most people who favor hate crime legislation.

Remember that a “life sentence” usually means 20 years. The alleged killers in this case are young enough to serve that time and still be released from prison when they are around 40 years old.

Conservatives favor crime policies such as longer sentences (without vacations) and the death penalty that would punish the killers of Matthew Shepard more than those policies favored by the left.

Those who say the death penalty doesn’t deter crime should think of Horton. A violent rape would not have happened had the death penalty been implemented when he was found guilty of murder. Stronger support for the death penalty would be a more sensible outcome from the Shepard murder than support for hate crime legislation.

The movement to take action against hate crimes as a method of fighting crime reminds me of what happened in Berkeley a few years back.

The Berkeley administration was paralyzed from reacting to a student’s indecent behavior. He was known as “the naked guy” and kept coming to classes without any clothes on.

The ethos of the campus prevented administrators from saying, “Put some clothes on you weirdo, or we’ll have you arrested.” That would not be in keeping with the spirit of diversity.

After a little debate, they finally announced a solution that would attempt to both solve the problem and make diversity advocates happy. They charged the student with sexual harassment.

Hate crime legislation is a way of acting tough on crime without losing one’s liberal credentials.

Laws against harassment and intimidation are already on the books. If the penalties are to be raised, raise them across the board, not just on crimes committed against “protected classes.”

The killers in the University of Wyoming case should be brought to justice for crimes against Matthew Shepard, not for crimes against diversity.

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Benjamin Studenski is a senior in industrial engineering from Hastings, Minn.