Hate Speech Stereotypes

Many issues impacted by hate crimes can be informed by psychological research. For example, are hate crimes more harmful than other kinds of crime? Why do people commit hate crimes? What can be done to prevent or lessen the impact of hate and bias-motivated crimes? Social scientific research is beginning to yield information on the nature of crimes committed because of real or perceived differences in race, religion, ethnicity or national origin, sexual orientation, disability, or gender. Current federal law defines hate crimes as any felony or crime of violence that manifests prejudice based on “race, color, religion, or national origin”. Hate crimes can be understood as criminal conduct motivated in whole or in part by a negative opinion or attitude toward a group of persons. Hate crimes involve a specific aspect of the victim’s identity. Hate crimes are not simply biases, they are dangerous actions motivated by biases.

Throughout history, crimes have been committed worldwide. Murder, assault, and other crimes have been dealt with some kind of punishment, but one crime stays unnoticed and not cared about. Hate crimes, a major conflict in communities, have been showing up without anyone noticing. People sometimes commit them unaware of the consequences due to the lack of understanding what a hate crime really is. A hate crime is a motive to hurt or insult a certain group of people. It is more harsh and dangerous than most crimes because it not only affects the victim, but the whole group of that victim’s characteristic. With the underestimation of hate crimes, murder, assault, and other crimes will increase highly.

Hate crimes are difficult to fathom, primarily because they involve the unprovoked physical attacking and, sometimes, murder of people based on race and ethnicity. A more formal definition of hate crimes is presented by Shepard (2017, p. 285). As he writes, “a hate crime is a criminal act that is motivated by extreme prejudice,” This is a very good, concise and accurate definition, nevertheless, hate crimes are not the outcome of unimaginable heights of discrimination. Most people have prejudices and many have stereotypes regarding others, whether it be racial or class stereotypes. Nobody is completely lacking in any form, shape or type of prejudice but, the much greater percentage does not physically attack, beat or murder those whom they

entitled “Immigration Reform to Make America Great Again”. Sprinkled throughout this anti-immigration manifesto are pieces of jarring—albeit deceptive— information. Trump speaks eloquently about the savagery that characterizes the Mexican people; he describes how Mexican leaders have banished criminals to America in lieu of properly punishing them under law, and how these exiled criminals have committed heinous and brutal crimes throughout the country. He quotes a statistic from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), stating that there were “3 million arrests” of criminal aliens in 2011. However, there are problems with these figures: the GAO never set the number of arrested immigrants at 3 million. In fact, the 2011 statistic which Trump cites actually sets the number at roughly 1.7 million. Many of these arrests never even found ground for conviction. (Jeseck

From 1999 to 2011 there have been a 600+ increase in the number of hate groups in America and Montana, Louisiana, Arkansas, New Jersey, and Texas all have over sixteen active hate groups (@splcenter). “According to the FBI Hate Crime Statistics released in November 2009, hate crimes are at their highest rate since 2001,” (RAC). Out of every 2,000 religion based offenses roughly 1,050 of them are aimed at Jews. In 2010 alone there were 3,949 victims of a religiously motivated crime (FBI). In 2005 there were 5,190 cases of hate crime by murder and manslaughter. Although most people believe hate crimes to be against just an individual but 17.6 percent of reported victims were businesses, financial institutions, religious organizations, society or the public. Most people think that hate crimes would be committed in an unpopulated place but 31.4 percent average of all hate crimes were committed in or near a residence or neighborhood. All of the statistics that are provided for by any agency or organization are under-rated by the fact that not everyone will report a hate crime of fear and intimidation. Most of the statistics of hate crimes are leveling out since 2011 with mild increases or decreases because of the awareness that people are creating with the

“Trump is a symptom of the contemporary political climate in America that draws its origins from a number of factors. For one, the undercurrent of racism that has existed in this country since its inception. While it has been marginalized bit-by-bit over the past several decades, it’s clear that racial bigotry is still very much alive and widespread throughout the United States. This unfortunate subsection of the American populace became increasingly more vocal during the Obama presidency, while also gradually gaining some degree of mainstream acceptance via online forums and what we now call alt-right publications.

Hate crimes are violations against the law that are motivated by a type of prejudice. 80% of these crimes include violence and are taken very seriously. In fact, they are the highest priority of the FBI’s Civil Rights program. They are essentially dangerous to the community because they encourage hatred and can even be classified as a form of terrorism. Since hate crimes have been on a rise since the mid 1900’s, law enforcement agencies have been forced to take action. As a result of the Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009, the FBI was able to investigate any biased crimes based upon race, ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or gender.

According to the new FBI numbers, 47 percent of hate crimes in 2014 were motivated by race, over 20 percent by anti-LGBT animus, and approaching 19 percent by religion (Potok 2). The use of hate speech is a precursor to more serious crimes that greatly impact the United States, especially within politics. Hate speech should be seen as a precursor to more serious crimes and violence because hate speech causes society to be more accepting toward certain violent behaviors and hate speech allows for negative stereotypes to be used against marginalized groups of people.

In most of his speeches, Donald Trump touches on the feeling of fear, especially in statements such as,”So many people gravely injured, so much carnage, such a disgrace.” By addressing the tragedy of the situation, Mr. Trump is attempting to relate to his audience in an empathetic manner. Many people in the United States feel discontent, to the point of anger, over the recent events our nation has faced. Donald Trump not only acknowledges, but also tends to kindle the audience’s anger when he speaks. After emphasizing the tragedy of the situation, he goes further to critique Hillary Clinton, saying,”Clinton wants to allow Radical Islamic Terrorists to pour into our country- they enslave women and murder gays.” Whether one agrees with this statement is left to the discretion of the listener, however, it is fairly obvious that Mr. Trump constructed a straw man argument on Hillary Clinton’s behalf. This methodology has proven effective in both strengthening opposition against Hillary while also building Mr. Trump’s reputation. It is imperative, regardless of what political party one supports, that one critically analyzes the stances and statements of a candidate and arrives to their own

Referring to the FBI’s data in 2013, it reveals that about 48.5% of all reports that were classified as hate crimes were motivated by race (Brunker par.9). Racial attacks usually involve intimidation, vandalism, and assault to the opposite race (Crime Museum par.4). However according to the FBI Uniform Crime Reports the average amount of hate crimes between races has declined progressively (Brunker par.15). Unfortunately, hate groups are still a huge problem in today’s society, but the government is reacting in a more serious matter against these events

“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.

Since the election of Trump, hate crimes have seen an increase of 6% which is alarming given that in the past hate crimes have been decreasing according to the FBI and SPLC. Some areas that saw the biggest surge were hate crimes among Muslim Americans, transgendered people, Jews, and African-Americans. Some believe that the spike in hate crimes is because of the country 's extreme opposing views on topics causing a divide between citizens which was motivated by President-elect Trump. Supporters and believers of Trump 's extreme views have been taking Trump 's statements and applying them literally by lashing out against different ethnicities, races, and genders because of what they are, what they believe in, and who they supported during the election. An example of a hate crime occurring because of statements made by Trump against Muslims is the letter a mosque in California got calling for genocide. Some of the more colorful parts of the letter stated that “Muslims are a vile and filthy people”, “your day of reckoning has arrived”, and “He’s (Trump) going to do to you Muslims what Hitler did to Jews” (Holly 3). This letter is obviously motivated by religious hatred towards Muslims and is calling for action against them. It clearly follows the

And that's not hyperbole: it took me a while to find you, but when I did, you helped guide me in a meaningful direction. Instead of drowning myself in booze or escaping into a world of drugs, I found the antiwar movement and the world of progressive political activism. For that, I am extremely thankful.

point system of political beliefs that gives one a good idea of what the Klan is about: 1) stop

The first hate crime was passed in 1978 and was also provided for penalty enhancements in cases where a murder was motivated by prejudice. In 1997 of the term “hate crime” may seem now to sacrifice the attention it has received in the past several years, these types of offenses such as (abuse, have been around for many years. From that moment on the 1964 Civil Rights Act, people have been victims of crimes and perpetrators. But most hate crimes are real because of the skin color and their religion. People may feel some type of way because the population is not like them. It may not make a difference in the number of days the person may spend incarcerated, but it makes a huge difference for the people to hold people accountable for what they did. Hate crimes are perpetrated because the victims are in some way considered different, some politicians play the racism card to govern votes and grab power , and can create public health issues.