Pearlman documents public opinion on the appropriate approach to bias crime, a perspective primarily overlooked. Interviews with rural Pennsylvanians, while revealing majority support for different treatment for bias crime, demonstrate greater public concern for addressing the underlying hate than a need for enhanced punishment through longer sentences, the focus of current sentencing policy. Such findings suggest potential public support for more rehabilitation-oriented responses to bias crime than intimated by general support for bias crime legislation and also support for the position that Americans punitive reputation may not be accurate. As such, they offer the possibility of new legislative options for addressing the age-old problem of hate.