Hate Crime : The Termful Effects Of Hate Crimes

A 2005 study conducted by National Institute of Justice, found that the Federal Government and all but one state, Wyoming, have laws related to hate crimes. A consistent problem identified by this study is there in no consistency in defining what constitutes a hate crime. (Carrie F. Mulford, Ph.D., & Michael Shively, Ph.D., Hate Crime in America: The Debate Continues, 257, Nat’l Inst Just., (2007). “The Federal Bureau of Investigation defines hate crime—also called bias crime—as “a criminal offense committed against a person, property, or society that is motivated, in whole or in part, by the offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or ethnicity/national origin.” ld.

The phrase “Hate Crime” rose to prominence in the 1980s, in an attempt to describe crimes against someone based on their race or religion. These crimes were motivated, at least in part and sometimes in entirety, by bias against African Americans and Jews. Since that time, the term has expanded to include illegal acts against a person, organization, and their property based on the criminal’s bias against the victim’s minority class. These minority classes include race and ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, disability, or gender reassignment. These are specific crimes because not only are they crimes against someone, they are committed based on who someone is (Martin 1996). This paper will discuss the history of hate crimes and the response of law enforcement officers to hate crimes.

Hate crime is one of the biggest issues many people face today. Whether or not they should be legislated against has been highly debated and continues to be a hot topic. This essay will explain the ideas and opinions of several authors including Charley Reese, Michael Lieberman, Helen Dodge, Gregory S. Parks, Shayne E. Jones and Samuel Francis. It will also elaborate on the topic of why hate crimes should be legislated against, with supporting information.

What is a hate crime? Although the definition can vary based on what groups are included (Cogan, 2006, p. 174) the simplest definition would be, violence against a person or group of people based on their gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, race or disability (Burgess, Regehr, & Roberts, 2013). Hate Crimes do not just effect the victim but also the community. Those who become victims of hate crime are not chosen at random, it is because of the group they identify with or belong too (Cogan, 2006, p. 174) Hate speech, “defined as words used as weapons to ambush, terrorize, wound, humiliate and degrade” (Burgess et al., 2013, p. 480) another person. Violence is seriously damaging to a victim and the community, but

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.

“The term hate crime was coined in the 1980s by journalists and policy advocates who were attempting to describe a series of incidents directed at Jews, Asians and African-Americans. The Federal Bureau of Investigation defines hate crime (also known as bias crime) as "a criminal offense committed against a person, property, or society that is motivated, in whole or in part, by the offender 's bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or ethnicity/national origin.(National Institute of justice, Paragraph 1, December 22, 2010.)”

Plenty of recent studies and cases that involved hate crimes have had a steady increase in recent years throughout the United States. The crimes range from minor cases such as disagreements and gender bias however the major cases are the ones that have constantly surfaced such as crimes related to Religion, Race, Sexual Orientation, and most importantly Gangs. Hate crimes have always been around although many of the people committing the crimes know that what they are doing is wrong psychologically they believe their actions are justified by themselves or a group they ae associated with even at the cost of a human life. Many group and individuals committing these crimes make it a part of their lifestyle to commit these crimes based upon their

Hate violence refers to crimes that are directed against families, persons, organizations, or groups due to their ethnic, racial, sexual, religious identities, orientations or conditions of disability (Whitlock & Bronski, 2016). Accordingly, hate violence included crimes of arson at the business or homes, damage and destruction of religious property, personal assaults, homicides, and cross burnings. In the United States, hate violence has a long history. However, although it might be challenging to assess and estimate the prevalence of this kind of hate in the United States, there are clear indications that the problem has increased in recent years (Whitlock & Bronski, 2016). Connectively,

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,

Hate groups, and hate crimes associated with their ideologies, are a major problem facing Americans. This is evident when observing the increasing number of hate groups becoming radicalized in recent years. For example, hate crimes in major metropolitan areas such as

Hate crimes can be described as criminal activities that are perceived to be fueled by prejudice against and hostility towards the victim based on an individual characteristic. In most cases, hate crimes are motivated by gender, disability, sexual orientation, race, identity, and religion or faith. The increase in hate crimes in the recent past has not only made it a major issue that needs to be addressed in the modern society but has also attracted several legislative measures to deal with it. However, dealing with this major societal issue not only requires these legislative measures but also necessitate creative and critical thinking to enhance the effectiveness of initiatives taken to address it.

Crime victims often experience feelings of powerlessness and increased suspicion of other people (Bard and Sangrey, 1986). These feelings were likewise reported by casualties of hate crimes. A noteworthy distinction in the enthusiastic reaction of despise hate violation has all the earmarks of being the nonappearance of brought down confidence. Depending on how bad the hate crime is, the ability of some victims to remain calm, and aware varies because the crime scares them and causes the victim to be suspicion and paranoid. In inspecting the latest despise hate crime, the study discovered extensive variety in both the sort and force of assaults. This finding is very constant with those of other incidents of hate crimes because hate crimes make the victim feel bad inside. Nobody wants to be attacked or assaulted by anyone just because of their race, color, or religion. Crime victims often experience feelings of powerlessness and increased suspicion of other people (Bard and Sangrey, 1986). There are a lot of ways to prevent hate crimes in this present day in time. To prevent hate violence, social workers need to assist in educating citizens this problem (Weiss,

Why worth examining: This type of crime is interesting because the target is chosen solely on who they are as a person and not on an act they have done. The perpetrators commit these harmful offenses based entirely on stereotypes and biases that they have on individuals of specific groups, not because they actually know the other person’s character and disagree with their opinions. This crime is important and worth examining because it contributes to the many other aspects of social injustice. Hate crimes put minority groups in danger and can make them live in fear of being attacked at any moment. There are thousands of hate crime victims each year who are attacked because of certain characteristics that make them who they are and they cannot change. This reality that many people face should cause others to be more politically aware of these types of crimes.

Hate crimes are very common in today’s society, they can range from various ethnicities and orientations as well as the severity of the crime committed. A hate crime is defined as “the violence of intolerance and bigotry, intended to hurt and intimidate someone because of their race, ethnicity, national origin, religious, sexual orientation, or disability. The purveyors of hate use explosives, arson, weapons, vandalism, physical violence, and verbal threats of violence to instill fear in their victims, leaving them vulnerable to more attack and feeling alienated, helpless, suspicious and fearful”. These attacks are fueled by a hatred for the victim’s personal lifestyle. As mentioned above, hate crimes are not specific to one group of people, the crimes can be found in every aspect of society, some are just more obvious than others. In a 2014 study it was found that 51 percent of hate crimes were motivated by the victims ethnicity. Race was the second highest rate of motivation. According to this study, it has been determined that majority of hate crimes can be classified as “simple assaults”. In relation to these statistics it is estimated that only 4% of the assaults resulted in an arrest. It is also believed that more than 60% of hate crimes are not reported. These are not reported because the victims think that nothing will come out of reporting their attacks. Also, the actual victims reported only 22% of hate crimes, while someone else reported 12%. These types crimes

This paper will explore the long-term effects a hate crime has on the victim and his or her community. The victims and communities are directly and indirectly affected by the crime. Victims suffered long term effects such as negative mental and physical health, anxiety, depression, and symptoms of PTSD. The affected communities were victimized solely for sharing the same characteristics and beliefs of the victim. The long lasting effects of the hate crime influence every aspect of the victim’s life and those communities involved. Coping mechanisms such as support groups helped the victim and the communities regain some normality in their lives.