Re "Hate Crime Too Broad" (Dissent, Oct. 14): Criminal law has always taken into account "the content of criminal motive." Just as society punishes a coldly premeditated murder more harshly than one committed in the heat of argument, just as we deal more severely with people who willfully violate the law than those who do so by accident, so, too, should we add increased penalties for criminals whose attacks are motivated by hatred.

These assaults tend to be far more violent than those spurred by robbery--consider the horrible sight of Matthew Shepard beaten repeatedly and left to die on a fence because he was gay, or of James Byrd Jr. dragged to his death behind a truck in Texas last summer because he was black. These are among the most heinous of crimes.

A hate crimes law sends the clear message that our legal system rejects that shameful history and supports the civil rights of all people.

A hate crime isn't just an attack on an individual, but on a whole community. For every Matthew Shepard there are a hundred gay men and lesbians who will be forced back into the closet out of fear. Governments must protect all their citizens by taking a firm stand to prevent such brutal intimidation. NIKKI L. DEBLOSI '99   ADAM A. SOFEN '01   Oct. 16, 1998 The writers are co-chairs of the Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian Transgender and Supporters' Association. Sofen is a Crimson editor.