There was a lawyer who did an interview on the subject. If a person commits' a crime and they have enough evidence to convict, but then they find, let's just say this time, evidence that this person has 'hate' toward said group. They will switch to trying to prosecute for that instead. It was really great to listen to, wish I saved a link. Oh and also, if you can guess (((who))) started hate crime laws, you win a pizza.