Essay on The Issue of LGBT Hate Crimes

Hate crime is a motivated violent act by a group or individual perpetrator towards a specific race, colour or religion (Collins, Pg 93,192). For many years, authority figures and the media have ignored hate crime offences towards individuals who identify under the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) umbrella. Up until the 20th century and prior to the 1964 Civil Rights Act, LGBTQ persons have been victimized in violent crimes based solely on gender identification and orientation. With a myriad of events, cases and unreported individual incidents the burden of proof towards hate crime on LQBTQ increased. The development of North American law towards LGBTQ citizens has improved throughout the last two decades. However, there

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.

A hate crime is a crime of prejudice. The commitment of hate crimes is motivated by racial, sexual and even religious differences that often result to violence and death. America today is besieged by hate crimes. It seems that everywhere we turn, in the newspapers, on television and on social media, hate crimes are not only reported but are actually supported. It is unprecedented in American history how much bigotry is thrown out in our faces from the news and in social media. (Patillo, 2017) Behind every hate crime is a message. This is why the mainstream media and social media have become platforms for various groups to brag about their religious and racial biases and what they intend to do about those who against their beliefs. Hate crimes are espoused by religious and racial bigots to sow hate and dissension in order to convince people that their religious and racial prejudices are correct. Politicians, law enforcement units and the local community have to take firm steps to prevent such acts of violence from occurring in their locality.

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that” (Martin Luther King Jr). Hate crimes are a big problem in the world today and need to be stopped. To end hate crimes people need to learn to look past what is on the outside of a person and learn to love what it on the inside. In the selection, Why We Need to Tolerate Hate by Wendy Kaminer, Kaminer emphasizes what hate crimes are and how they are treated differently than other crimes. Since hate crimes are a problem in the world today, we need to understand if hate crime prosecution is prosecution of thought and belief, the change of hate crime laws over time, and the way that the prosecution of hate crimes has changed over time.

Circumstances that constitute hate crimes are people committing crime against certain types of people either due to political differences, social class, ethnicity, or sexuality. People who are against a certain group’s lifestyle act out against them which can be in a physical or verbal way.

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.

Hate crime is a crime that affects people more and leave a biased in peoples mind that cause lots of psychological damage and possible physical depending on the person who is the victim

In this Gays and lesbians deserve equal protection against the hate crimes that happen in the world. Aren't we told as young children and also throughout life to treat others as we would want to be treated? So why are some decimated against based on sexual preference? The statistics show the percentages of the hate discrimination against the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual community. The violence that they are pitted against, due to people's discrimination against them, in life. And I will also mention the discrimination that the LGBT community goes through and what they miss out based on sexual preference.

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.

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

In 2013, nearly 200 reported cases of sexual orientation-based hate crimes were reported in Canada; of those crimes, 66% involved violence (Watson, 2015). Scott Jones, a young homosexual man was the victim of one of these attacks. The brutal attack rendered him paralyzed. Through the support of family and friends, he was able to collaborate with them to create “Don’t be afraid” in an effort to draw awareness to LBGT violence and help promote acceptance (Jones, 2015). He is able to provide insight through his experiences in the healthcare system such as the roles and collaboration used in his care, as well as being inspirational.

problem in today's society, but it is not dealt with the same violent manner as

Hate crime generally refers to a “criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, ethnic origin or sexual orientation”, (Hall, 2013).

Throughout American history, violent criminal acts against a specific person or a group of individuals were just that, violent crimes. In the 1980’s, the term hate crime was born. The term hate crime was used by a group of advocates to describe a series of violent incidents targeting several minorities (Nij.gov, 2015). A hate crime is “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,