What is the logic of Hate Crimes legislation?

Do some victims deserve less justice? - The Boston Globe:

"why should 'hate crimes' motivated by racial, religious, or sexual bigotry be punished more severely than equally hateful crimes motivated by contempt for the homeless? If a bunch of hoodlums murder a man by setting him on fire in his wheelchair, what moral difference does it make whether they despised him for being disabled (covered by the new bill) or for being a street person (not covered)? Is it worse to douse a man with gasoline and strike a match while shouting, 'We hate cripples!' than to do the exact same thing while shouting 'We hate the homeless' -- or 'We hate skinheads' or 'We hate Communists'?
It is indecent for the government to declare that a murder or mugging or rape is somehow more terrible when the murderer or mugger or rapist is motivated by bigotry against certain favored groups. The inescapable implication is that murders, muggings, and rapes committed against other groups are less terrible."

In a society dedicated to the ideal of "equal justice under law" -- the words are chiseled above the entrance to the Supreme Court -- it is immoral and grotesque to enact legal rules that make some victims of hatred are more equal than others.

In fact, the law has no business intensifying the punishment for violent crimes motivated by bigotry at all. Murderers should be prosecuted and punished with equal vehemence no matter why they murder -- whether out of hatred or sadistic thrill-seeking or revenge or the promise of money. It is not the criminal's evil thoughts that society has a right to punish, but his evil deeds.

I have always believed that attacks are equally hurtful to those involved & society at large, regardless of the motives of the attackers. Hate crimes legislation is really an attempt to regulate thought, but society should only be concerned with behavior.

I imagine that prosecutors & defense attorneys spend a lot of time trying to define the motive for an attack. While that is probably useful, I hope it doesn't take investigative time away from proving who committed an attack. It would be a shame to convict the wrong parties, or only some parties involved, because valuable time was wasted trying to prove that this was a Hate Crime.