Discrimination Laws And Hate Crimes

After reading chapter 3: "Prejudice and Discriminations" and as well the article "Transgender African-Americans' Open Wound: ‘We're considered a Joke’”, I have a better understanding of the challenges that certain group undergo due to prejudices and discrimination that exist within their own racial group and other groups of our society. Although the LBGT community has made its social conditions a little more better, there is still those within their group that are even more marginalize, this is the case of a African-American transgender. African Americans transgender face twice as much prejudice and discrimination. They battle prejudice and discrimination from their own racial group and from society because of their skin color and their gender

Crime in America is an extremely plaguing issue. However, recently hate crimes specifically have been on the rise. Those targeted by these awful crimes include those from specific race, sex, and sexuality groups, as well as those with disabilities. While, all hate crimes are indeed terrible, those targeting the disabled are especially heinous. To attack someone who can not physically or consciously defend themselves is very cowardly. The authors of Hate Crimes and Disability in America, Brian T. McMahon, Steven L. West, Allen N. Lewis, Amy J. Armstrong, and Joseph P. Conway address the issue of hate crimes against the disabled as well as the statistics and legality of this matter.

Given that our society has such a dense population of different races, ethnicities, religions and sexual orientations, it is important to understand both the goals and challenges of policing and dealing with hate and bias crimes. Considering that since the beginning stages of immigration we have tried to support successful assimilation, hate and bias crimes create a huge barrier. Hate and bias crimes “occur when a perpetrator targets a victim because of his or her membership in a certain social group, usually defined by race, religion, sexual orientation, disability, ethnicity, nationality, age, gender, gender identity, or political affiliation” (en.wikipedia.org). Not only is it difficult for our society to identify this sort of crime,

Almost every person in America can pinpoint a time when they saw a news segment about some hate-based crime that was committed. Although some may argue that all crimes in the same category should be treated equally, hate crime should be punished more severely because the law requires it and it promotes safety and equality in communities.

Race, ethnicity,gender sexuality and religion when one acts turns into violence when individuals are victimized because of race, ethnicity gender sexuality and religion due to one’s personal belief that one do not belong in a certain neighborhood. Innocent lives are taken for one’s personal prejudice. Minorities are born in a world where unfairness and challenges are in their lives before they could understand it.

Throughout history, members of the lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender, and queer community (LGBTQ) have been persecuted because of their sexual orientation. There has been a tremendous struggle for power, within the LGBTQ community. Throughout the years, people have tried to suppress the rights of these individuals, because of their own moral beliefs. Some methods they pursue are more aggressive than others. Certain individuals will stop at nothing to keep this community down, and will even act with ruthless aggression to do so. There are a multitude of cases within the last decade to prove this true. When someone does decide to this, they are considered hate crimes.

From what I have identified on hate crimes in my research, the top two motivations for hate crimes are based on race and sexual orientation, “In 2010’s FBI report, of the 7,690 reported incidents, 48. 4 percent of the crimes were racially motivated attacks, with sexual orientation bias coming in second at 19.1 percent.” (DL Chandler,2010) Two of the best examples of these crimes are the James Byrd and Mathew Shepard cases in 1998. These crimes prompted the enactment of the Hate Crimes Prevention Act that was signed by President Barack Obama in 2009. Although the crimes are both very horrific and morbid acts in their own right, they were based on different types of hate racial and homophobia. The James Byrd Case was racially motivated

Over the past decade school violence has been on the rise. School violence has always existed in some form or another, whether it is a fight out on the playground or a stabbing in the parking lot. However nothing got the nation 's attentions like on April 20, 1999, Columbine school shooting. Ever since that day the nation wants to know what to do to protect the kids in this country. Violence motivated by a bias against victims’ characteristics which include race, religion, ethnic background, national origin, gender, or sexual orientation, represents a serious threat to all communities. Experts estimate that a bias-related crime is committed every 14 minutes. Criminal justice officials and state policy makers need to realize that it is key to make or adjust hate crime legislation. This has been a heated debate for centuries. The key to solving the ever-growing problem of hate crimes is more hate crime legislation.

In society, social categories are based on “real or assumed physical, biological, or genetic differences” (Kirk & Okazawa-Rey, 2013, p. 12) to create privilege, a desired cultural currency, for particular groups (Taylor, 2013). Hence, gender and sexual orientation are two of these social categories (Kirk & Okazawa-Rey, 2013), and transgender people, “whose gender expression, gender identity, and/or sex identity does not match the expectations of the dominant norm of society” (Catalano, McCarthy, & Shlasko, 2007, p. 219), are placed in the subordinate groups of these social categories (Kirk & Okazawa-Rey, 2013). Hence, the subordination of transgender people is based on the misguided premise of the sex/gender binary, which states there are only

With the recent Supreme Court ruling on June 26th concerning gay marriage the LGBT community won a long and hard-fought victory after many tiring years of effort. However, as John Oliver so adeptly points out, the fight for full equality still rages on. Oliver dedicated his main segment of his show on Sunday to addressing the issue of transgender rights. This issue concerns a number of facets for transgender people, such as being bullied at school and having a fairly alarming rate of attempted suicide at 41%. As Oliver points out during his segment, this is a civil rights issue, and it will require a deep examination of this country’s values and the way in which we view transgendered people if we truly wish to change our attitudes towards them. Although the arguments for why this matter is a “personal problem”

affected by discrimination and hate crimes because of it, with the government systems not sufficiently making an effort to fix the issue. Islamophobia, which is the intense fear or hatred of Islam or Muslims, has been a growing issue, in America especially, with a 12% increase from 2013 to 2015, according to a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center.(Gregg) The growing rate of hatred causes hate crimes on innocent people all because of the irrational fear that all Muslims are dangerous or different. An ideal solution to this issue is for the government and law enforcement to do more research and make a plan on effective ways to prevent the use of hate

In his book Normal Life: Administrative Violence, Critical Trans Politics, and the Limits of Law, lawyer, writer, and professor Dean Spade argues that the majority of social justice works needs to dismantle the notion that legal action in the form of recognition, visibility, and inclusion, such as anti-discrimination laws and hate crime legislation, will eliminate transphobia and related injustices, and encourages activists to take action that will transform societal standards from general society to the transgender community on an ascending scale as the only way in which to ensure sustainable, effective results. He argues that formal, or legal, equality is not deterrent, and exists as a space in which bias, exclusion, and discrimination still occur, differentiating it from actual, effective equality. Before prejudicial behavior can even occur within the legal system, however, Spade points out that litigation is expensive, thus nearly impossible for members of the transgender community to obtain and they are often precluded from job opportunities as a result of transphobia within the professional world. In addition, intent is

Aaron, you make a great point about privacy concerns involving employers digging too deeply into an employee’s personal life. Potential issues involving privacy also can occur in the hiring process. Von Bergen and Bressler (2016) reports that organizations often avoid hiring candidates with a criminal history based on a belief that it reduces future risk and liability. However, recent data shows that those with a criminal history are less likely to break the law at work than individuals with a clean record. A criminal history box on applications may, therefore, be unwarranted and lead to disparate treatment of minorities and could lead to violations of anti-discrimination laws (Von Bergen & Bressler, 2016). Regardless, one could easily argue

When most people think of transgender individuals their minds wander to the poorly portrayed transgender characters in media that they’ve seen, or they think about the numerous social issues regarding transgender rights that have surfaced recently in the united states, but most people don’t actually have a full understanding of what a transgender person is. Although most people in the

One of the main concerns for the public about transgender people being able to choose the bathroom that matches their gender identity is the fear of cisgender women and young children being attacked by men. Yet there is no solid evidence of anyone being assaulted by a transgender individual. When in reality the public is afraid of cisgender men attacking women and young children. In 17 states it is legal for transgender people to use the bathroom that matches their gender identity and there have been 0 incidents reported. Aimee Toms, a cisgender woman, cautions the public that, “If a guy was going to commit a crime in a women’s bathroom, this law isn’t going to invite them to do it.” A new law that forces people to use the restroom of the gender of their birth will not change that. Toms speaks from personal experience when she says, “This law wasn’t in place a year ago when I almost got raped in a bathroom because a man followed me into the women’s room,” (McNamara)