To the editor:

We often feel good about ourselves when we think that we are taking measures to confront a worrying social problem such as “domestic violence,” (“LePage unveils his domestic violence agenda,” Feb. 23).

But if we look at the problem and the proposed solutions dispassionately, a bit of thought often exposes blatant inequities. Factoring in the identity of the victim and the perpetrator when setting a penalty for a crime can produce clear injustices (quite often motivated by the pursuit of ideological purity).

If I viciously beat my wife, is it a worse crime than if I viciously beat the old lady living next door? If my sentence for the former crime is mandated to be heavier under the law, does it mean that the neighbor is less important as a citizen than my wife?

Similar questions arise with “hate crimes.” If I assault a “Caucasian” acquaintance, is that a lesser offense than doing the same to a Pakistani immigrant?

This leaves aside the difficult and often hopeless issue of determining what my motivation was for the crime. The law should be concerned with what I did rather than attempting the often futile task of determining why I did it.

Or do we rely ( as often occurs at present) merely on the ethnicity or gender of the perpetrator and the victim, which appears to be a clear example of legally endorsed discrimination?

Edmund R. Peay

Brunswick