THE PLAN, confirmed today by Home Secretary Jack Straw, to crack down on race-hate crimes by punishing attackers with up to an extra two years in jail, is one that a decent society will welcome.

And, clearly, Mr Straw means to be tough as even in cases of non-violent offences courts will have to regard racial elements as an "aggravating factor" leading to harsher punishment.

This well-intentioned move, however, will not be without difficulties in practice.

For prosecutors may, in many cases, have the difficult task of proving what was an alleged offender's state of mind at the time of the crime.

Racism may be any easy motive to allege in cases of inter-ethnic attacks, but, without evidence of actual spoken or written racist malice accompanying them, substantiating it in a court of law so that it warrants an extra penalty will be a far different matter.

Even so, Mr Straw is right to press ahead if only to express the government's and society's rejection of the evil of racism and to give the victims of it at least the hope of strict justice.

That said, this new law must gain wider acceptance and strength through being seen at the outset to be as neutral as true justice itself - in other words, a law for all, black and white, and not one that becomes a cudgel wielded only on behalf of ethic minorities.

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