This article considers whether the targeted victimization of adults who sexually assault children should be recognized as a form of hate crime under the criminal law. Two recent Australian cases where the courts applied hate crime provisions to paedophiles raise important questions about which forms of social differentiation are protected under hate crime statutes. The article builds on recent proposals for more inclusive victim protection criteria, particularly around notions of vulnerability and difference, and argues that these characteristics must be tethered to a politics of justice that limits attributes to forms of difference that have a justifiable claim to affirmation, equality and respect for the attribute that makes them different.