People who engage in organized criminal activity, repeat offenders, and those who commit hate crimes are punished as though the offender had committed the next higher degree of felony – this practice is called (two words).

enhanced punishment

Explanation:

An enhanced punishment is a sentence that has been determined by a judge to be increasingly based on a prior conviction of a crime that has circumstances considered of serious nature.

It is put into a higher form of offence and therefore a broader punishment is deemed.

Typically this can apply to offenders (criminals) who repeatedly have been convicted for a crime, and were caught in similar circumstances for which they had been prosecuted in the past.

Texas is a good example of a state that enables to enhance punishment, and people convicted for organized crime, or repeated offenders, as well as hate crimes most likely, will apply for this will receive a higher degree of punishment.

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