Based on the discussion from the Williams Institute, it is evident that there continues to be a prevalence of discrimination among groups that are not viewed as culturally acceptable in our county. In this article, it is reported that people are more likely to experience hate crimes based on their sexual orientations. For instance, 44% of people reported experience physical violence (without a weapon) because of their sexual orientation, and 80% had been verbally harassed (Herek, 2009). Although the Hates Crimes Statistic Law became effective in 1990, the stigma surrounding the LGBTQ community continues to affect their everyday life. It may defer a person by identified their sexual orientation for the fear of being discriminating in the workplace,
It might face an uphill battle to be seen, because it revisits a crime that sparked national reckoning with the reality of homophobia, and that eventually led to the creation of The Matthew Shepard Foundation and the passage of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. I hope people discover it. It is wrenching but never exploitive. It is impressively skeptical of the same mission that it takes on its shoulders: to make something positive from a senseless crime without diminishing its senselessness.
Scenes of racism are evident on college campuses through the article “Cornell Student Accused in attack Is Charged With a Hate Crime”, written by Elizabeth A. Harris that was published by The New York Times on Nov. 13, 2017. The article is about a group of young men harassing a fellow student who happens to be black with racial slurs. Will tame at first, things start to escalate when one student punches the black student in the face leading to a legal lawsuit of a hate crime.
Hate crimes can cause emotional or physical harm. The victims live life in fear because they are being targeted. However we are in America. All citizens should be able to live in peace. The severity and aftermath of racially motivated crimes are the main reason laws towards hate crimes were created.
Hate crimes are many different criminal acts such as vandalism, arson, assault, and even murder. Many hate crimes are based on an individual’s race, gender, religion, age, sexual orientation, ethnicity, and disabilities. Everyone can be potential victims of hate crimes. Anyone from any social class can be considered targets for hate crimes. If you or a group believes in a different religion or speaks a different language and the offenders do not approve, then they will target you. No one can be really safe and overcome hate crimes if they are being targeted. It is a cruel and depressing world. With help as a community can stop hate crimes.
In the article Hate Crimes Now Directed at L.G.B.T. People the Most, Haeyoun Park brings up the topic of the worsening of LGBT hate crimes. The author exhibits a liberal bias, he shows this by bringing to the reader's attention to the fact that republican officials are denying that the Orlando Pulse Massacre had anything to do with LGBT individuals or that Pulse was even an LGBT club. Park uses statistics from multiple studies, and cites people who have contributed to this research, like Gregory M. Herek, a psychology professor from UC Davis, and Roger Coggan, the director of legal services at the LA LGBT Center. Following his statistics, Park uses numerous examples of different hate crimes from across the nation to support his claim. He uses
According to the FBI’s hate crime statistics in 2015, race, ethnicity, and ancestry bias (59.2%) are the most common victims that are targeted (Hate Crimes Statistics, 2015). Hate crimes are a “criminal offence against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity” (Hate Crimes, 2017). Joseph Paul Franklin was an American racist serial killer known for his hate homicides. He was considered the sniper because he would pick off his victims from a distance using a high power rifle with scope. Joseph started his killing spree in 1977, and in 1980 he was finally stopped.
You did a great job in this week’s discussion evaluating the use of hate crimes in criminal cases. I agree with you that the utilization of this enhancement factor in sentencing should be assessed by the jury hearing the case to ensure that due process is given to the defendant in the case on a harsher punishment that can be imposed for the criminal activity. The due process requirement for convicting a defendant in criminal proceedings is ensured to us all by the Constitution, and any factors that can change the amount of punishment given to a defendant must meet the due process requirements. This use of due process ensures that the accused has had a fair trial, and can meet the penalties of their crime in a fair and unbiased
Homophobia is the concept in which people are hateful or fearful towards lesbians and gays (Dictionary.com, 2014). Fear and revulsion of the LGBT population commonly emanate from religious concepts or traditional ideas of society. In 2011, 18% of hate crimes based upon sexual orientation were reported, however, the number proved to be higher than expected due to the fact that many more individuals are reporting these crimes to the authorities (Northhumberland View, 2013). This further demonstrates the progression of LGBT rights in Canadian society due to the fact that lesbian, gay and transgender individuals alike feel comfortable enough to report these matters to the police and receive justice rather than allowing the issue to go unnoticed out of fear of being judged. Also, though many laws have been implemented to prevent discrimination, it is a reality in which many members of the LGBT community still face today. In terms of bullying, 25% of homosexual adolescents reported being physically harassed by heterosexual peers in 2009 (CBC, 2010). However, in 2002 approximately one third of homosexual students were harassed based upon their sexuality (Riese, 2014). Although discrimination and bullying based upon sexual orientation is prevalent in today's society, Canadians have become more accustomed to the idea of homosexuality which is reflected through the decrease in the amount of harassment that occurs. However, with adequate education and continuous learning about the matter, discrimination based upon sexuality can be virtually eliminated in the
I think hate crimes should be extra punished than the other crimes. The crimes motivated by greed anger or revenge are reasonable. I am not saying is right or acceptable, but those motives make sense. Greed, anger and revenge are emotions that each of us had experiences in one point or another. Most of the people know how to deal with those emotions, but some people act on those emotions and committed crimes. For an example if someone hurt John Doe’s daughter will be understandable if he is angry, and if he beats up the person who hurt his child, we can see the motive. In case with the hate crimes there is no reasonable motivation. That is only one of the many reasons why the hate crimes need to be punished severely. Hurting someone just
Hate crimes in their simplest form can be described as harassment, intimidation, or physical violence that is motivated by a bias against characteristics of the victim considered integral to his social identity, such as his/her race, ethnicity, or religion (Hate Britannica). In the 20th century, hate crimes have begun to fill up the books most dominantly in the United States. Hate crimes around the world have always had a negative impact.
I shall consider whether legal or sociological definitions of crime should define its sphere of activity. I shall then consider past and present attitudes within criminology and society at large towards the idea of crime and criminals as essential political actions and actors. Finally, this introductory discussion will be rounded off by an attempt to draw together some personal conclusions about the scope of criminology. Hate crimes are an important social problem in the contemporary society of United States. Hate crimes are considerably argued to impact the lives of the individual victims and the social context in which they occur. (Wickes, Sydes, Benier & Higginson, 2016)
Imagine you are a family member of a man who was chained up to the back of a pickup truck and drug along a gravel road for two miles until he was dead. Then imagine how you would feel after you found out that this happened just because he was a black man. Things like this sicken me. I believe that the people that are responsible for these horrific crimes should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. That is why I strongly support hate crime laws.
“No one is born No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” Nelson Mandela- 1994. Children are taught to hate someone that are different. The differences can include the race of another, religion, financial background, or one’s beliefs. An adult or teen can be taught to hate as well. They can learn by the company they keep. The definition of a hate crime is, “a crime motivated by racial, sexual, or other prejudice, typically one involving violence.” Some factors that can lead to a hate crime are people you live around, a clashing
Given everything that has been going on in this country, people turn to hate crimes and rioting thinking it is the best solution to solve every problem given to us by the government and the media. One of the big problems is the media, whether it be the news on TV or the internet, they contort every problem to conform to what they want there viewers to believe. As one of my college professors told me “sometimes the media has to create their own problems so they can cover the story” (Riggenbach), ok something like that. For example, there was a story on the news where someone caught a cop shooting what looked like a homeless man. Since more people watch the news on TV versus reading a story on a website they don't get the whole thing. What had
Another factor contributing to the breaking of this country is the split between those who accept members of the LGBT community and those who don’t. Different opinions stand on whether two people of the same sex should be given the right to legally marry, “a majority of Americans (62%) support same-sex marriages, while 32% oppose it” (Mitchell). In other words, about one-hundred and three million U.S citizens are opposed to the idea that homosexual members of the LGBT community should be allowed to marry whomever they please. Unfortunately, these opinions against same-sex couples provoke hate crimes such as the one in Los Angeles on Oct. 19, 2017. A homophobic group of guys attacked Sabrina Hooks, a lesbian woman who was