Hate Crimes: The Dark Figure Of Crime

Recently, in a response to an increase in violence, the state of Wisconsin passes a law that enhances the penalty for any offense committed against a victim where the crime is committed because of hatred for the victim’s race, sex, or religion. Prior to discussing whether or not this penalty enhancement violates the civil jurisdiction given to the state from God; one must first provide the foundation of the jurisdiction of the state from the biblical principles. First, Christ recognizes that God has all authority “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God” Roman 13:1 (King James Online). In addition, Christ recognizes jurisdiction “and Jesus answering said unto them, Render to Caesar the

Hate crimes, two small words with a very big meaning. Hate crimes are happening everywhere, some hit the news, some go into newspapers and others don’t even make it to the point of any social awareness at all. Hate crimes are a targeted attack, one that should not be taken lightly. While hate crime laws infringe on free speech rights, acts of hate should be criminalized because groups of hate crimes have had a huge impact on social behavior for a long period of time, hate crimes victimize the entire community causing public damage, and the overall threat hate crimes pose on society without the repeated use of penalties.

Hate crimes has become an increasing problem here in the united states ranging from racial hatred to gender discrimination but what are hate crimes? According to Dr. Jack McDevitt, a criminologist at Northeastern University in Boston Hate crimes are message crimes, Hate crimes are defined as crimes that are violent act against people, property, or organizations because of the group to which they belong or identify with. The coined term “hate crimes” was first used No matter how many different definitions there are for hate crimes but we all can agree that hate crimes are wrong and immoral. But within hate crimes they are many different types of hate crimes. One of the main reasons that people commit hate crimes would

Transition to Lord of the Flies as a means to visualize the Pyramid of Hate

If we keep ignoring the hate crimes happening in America today, the issue will only grow until hate crimes become the norm. What will happen then? Will America consume itself in an attempt to flourish its own citizens? America is a country founded on immigrants, built on diversity, and dependent on cooperation. If the building blocks we stand on are ripped out from beneath us, the only way to go is down. We need to focus on building new blocks and not ripping them out from other’s

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.

Although the multicultural nature of American society enriches the lives of it’s citizens, the diversity of cultures and ethnic groups has unfortunately also evoked resentment and hatred among some individuals. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), a hate crime is a criminal offense committed against members of a specific group by the offender’s bias against a race, religion, ethnic/ national origin group, religion, or sexual orientation group (FBI, 2004).

Hate crime today, is defined as a crime that is inspired race, sexuality, gender, disability or ethnicity that involves violence or prejudice actions. Some say change is coming to the world against hate crimes because hate crime has been slowly decreasing over the years. Sexuality has been an issue for many people in the world because they do not accept one to be happy with themselves. Many people think telling other what to do, how to live, and how to be happy is the way to life, but it isn’t. Many think it’s unethical in most religion, many think it’s inhumane but what really matters to those who get bullied is how they feel about themselves. People should be comfortable with their sexuality, not always put down, especially when it comes to being violently abused. Hate crimes on sexuality have been around for many years and the methods people used are disturbing and unnecessary for their own satisfaction because it helps solve nothing. The history to present day is a fascinating story to how things changed for the better or worse.

Victimization of LGBT community members is elevating as time passes. Researchers attempt to determine the prevalence of the violence committed against members of the LGBT community (Rothman, Exner, & Baughman, 2011). Many people that identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender that are victims of hate crimes have participated in studies where they insist that the crimes committed against them are based on their sexuality; not class, color, gender, or any other factor. In a qualitative study, Meyer (2009) conducted open-ended interviews with people who were victims of hate crimes. The participants were recruited at LGBT advocacy organizations. Those who presumed that their hate crime was due to multiple systems of oppression such as class,

“Overall last year, 931 hate crime events were reported, up from 837 in 2015. There were 1,190 additional offenses reported, up from 1,057 in 2015. But the numbers are on the rise. Hate crimes in 2015 were up 10.4 percent compared to 2014” (Hart). Hate crimes are incidents involving acts of rape, assault, vandalism, or homicide, that are directed to people of a certain ethnic or racial groups. Since before World War 1, the FBI has been investigating and recording hate crimes that have resulted in homicides and increased tensions between ethnic and racial factions. This is being resolved through increased awareness and public pressure to report incidents.

Hate crimes are basically crimes that a group or someone in which hate is the motive and can involve intimidation, harassment, physical force, threat of physical force against a person, group, or property. Hate crimes can be based on disability, race, sexuality, religion or values that the victim(s) has. Some example of hate crimes can be racial hate crimes, which is the most dominant in the public. Another hate crime can be sexual orientation. Since people are declaring their sexual orientation as gay, lesbian or straight, and there are individuals who are against some of those orientation so a hate crime arises. There is also the disability hate crime, which depends entirely on the definition of the disability. People with physical disability, visual impairment or mental impairment are normally the victims of hate crimes.

Racism in America is really something a lot of people may not understand, and why it happens. Many hate crimes has been committed back to back in our great country. Some theories suggest that people are so disturbed to do such bad things as hate crimes it is most definitely a form of racism. Why do people do such harmful crimes? Great question it really takes a heartless person to take lives due to the color of the skin. How do this happen? There is so much hatred in the world now and less love and compassion in the world now until it’s just it scares me to even go to church is there any place safe? Anytime you can take a human life without remorse that’s a great problem that person is dealing with, and everyone is looking for answers.

Kevin, I enjoyed reading your perspective on hate crimes. You’re completely right, we all should be considered as a whole. No crime should be considered less than or more than. No one person life is more important than another person’s life. I respect your personal beliefs that all of us have personal biases, that indeed we do. However, I feel as if there should be some sort of hate crime legislative reform for individuals that are not considered a traditional hate crime. Going back to one person’s life being favorable over another, my personal belief is when a person is attacked, raped, or murdered over the color of their skin, or sexual preferences, or their religious beliefs some form of legislative reform should be put in place.

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)

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.