A crime is a crime and the criminals should be brought to justice. Just because the epethet doesn't mean anything doesn't excuse the behavior of beating someone up. With people cracking jokes about prisoner abuse, it is little wonder that this type of behaviour occurs.
Of course sending these people to jail would probably further perpetuate the same thing anyway. There is no easy way out. This is why negotiation should be taught before seeing rampant destruction on TV. Negotiation just wasn't sexy enough for the perps of this crime.