Religion and Hate Crimes Essay

The Civil Rights Movement during the 1960’s aimed at the equal opportunities for blacks. The blacks not only wanted political freedom, but also hoped to gain social freedom as well. On top of that, blacks wanted to end segregation. The Civil Rights Movement involved many events that would later lead to equality and freedom, the goal for the blacks.

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

The civil rights movement’s goal was to drastically alter the social and political handling of African Americans in America. To end Jim crow laws (preventing blacks from voting), to end segregation, end inequality to schooling, etc. They also aimed to change the American attitude towards blacks. This was no easy feat.

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.

The civil rights movement lays down the foundation of what most of us take for granted. In situations where racism, discrimination and sexual orientation was the justification of why one would be denied employment, a seat on the bus, or the right to vote, this movement was created to benefit all American people and has truly proven itself to be effective.

In 2009, 6,604 hate crime incidents were reported to the FBI, 48.8% of which were motivated by race, 19.7% by religious prejudice, 18.5%by sexual orientation, 11.8% by ethnicity, and 1.5% by disability bias (Hate Crime Statistics, 2009). Recently, the FBI released the 2010 statistics that unfortunately reveal a slight increase in the number of hate crime incidents: 6,628 incidents were reported in 2010, 47.3% of which were motivated by race, 20% by religious prejudice, 19.3% by sexual orientation, 12.8% by ethnicity, and .6% by disability bias (Hate Crime Statistics, 2010). While racially-motivated and disability-motivated crimes appear to have decreased, hate crime motivated by religion, sexual orientation, and ethnicity has risen in the last year. Improvements in hate crime laws and punishments are necessary in order for these statistics to decrease.

The civil rights movement was a movement that was committed to nonviolence and racial integration. There were civil rights leaders such as Malcolm X who challenged these commitments. Although there were laws such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, there was still de facto discrimination. De facto discrimination is discrimination in practice but not necessarily ordained by law. Legal equality was not enough for African Americans, especially because de facto discrimination was rising instead of declining. To a certain extent the civil rights movement did make progress in ending de facto discrimination, but they didn’t completely get rid of it. It was only a start

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.

The United States FBI defines hate crimes as “a traditional offense like murder, arson, or vandalism with an added element of bias.” This type of bigotry-driven crime has been a huge issue in the area of politics and justice ever since history began. Such crimes have become increasingly visible over the years due to the advances in technology, and social networking sites that have given a new platform to these issues. As the visibility of hate crime conditions become commonplace, they also become easily identifiable in everyday life. The issue that then arises is that these conditions have not yet become illegal to the degree that they should be held to. Hate crimes should be held at a higher penalty, at the federal level, due to the nature and intent of the crime at hand.

The ulterior motive of the Civil Rights Movement was to suppress segregation, race-induced violent acts, and depriving people of enfranchisement rights. The Civil Rights Movement ended with the Supreme Court disbanding the Jim Crow Laws and the Separate-But-Equal principle in 1954. I believe that the Civil Rights Movement achieved the initial goal of freedom for African-Americans during the 1900’s. From Rosa Parks, to Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.; these people fought in name of freedom for African-Americans. The Civil Rights Movement was to allow African-Americans to attend public schools, plays, workplaces, stores, bathrooms, and to be given the same opportunities as caucasians. Rosa Parks boycotted the idea of segregation on public

The movement was also geared toward economic and social equality. Civil rights activists wanted blacks to have equal job opportunities as whites. At the time there was no minimum wage, social security or any government support for African-Americans. Also whites were in a social class above blacks. Blacks lived in poor communities with bad schools and bad educational opportunities.

The main goal of the American Civil RIghts Movement was to gain equality for all people, regardless of color, race, ethnicity, etc. Some people decided to tolerate all the abuse. Others decided to take action and fight for what they believed in. Without Malcolm X, civil rights would not be that same as they are today. He fought for equality even though he was threatened.

Religion and Racism Racism is prejudice against people of another race or ethnic group. Prejudice means pre-judging: making up your mind about someone or something when you have not considered the facts or the evidence. Racism has been around for a very long time, one of the first times that it happened on a major scale was when the Jews moved to Egypt, but were put into slavery because the Egyptians thought of them as inferior because their skin colour and religious beliefs. People are, or can be racist due to three main points, the first is that they were brought up by parents who were racist, and they automatically adopted the views of them because that was all they knew as right.

This movement wanted all different groups of people to live in peace. However, it’s so evident that the civil rights movement did not accomplish anything because many minorities like Jewish people still suffer many hate crimes.

The Civil Rights Movement had a goal, which was to end segregation and discrimination of African Americans, and to try to improve the wellbeing by integrating both communities. This movement had led to many others, both peaceful and violent. However, the goal between them all was the same.