The Pros And Cons Of Hate Crime Laws

The hate crime legislations in the United States need to clearly define and identify hate crimes. Title 18 of the United States Code allows prosecutors to prosecute anyone who intentionally injures, intimidate, interferes with someone else, or attempts to do so, by force because of a person’s race, color, religions, or

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.

On the day of December 11, 2008 little Caylee Anthony’s body was found. The body was so decomposed that it was not clearly evident what the cause of death had been, the only thing that remained on the body was a piece of duct tape with a heart shaped sticker on the front of it. It was thought that Casey used chloroform on the duct tape and covered the mouth of the young Caylee Anthony to kill her so that Casey could get out of parental duties. The heart sticker on duct tape was used in protests of outrage regarding the case. The trial of Casey Anthony vs. The State of Florida, had a potential death penalty if Anthony was found

Acting District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said" Jaden Jordan was a young innocent child who was unable to defend himself from the vicious assault and there is no excuse for anyone to attack a child. The accused beat the young boy so badly that he later died. We are determined that justice will be done and that the accused is held responsible."

On July 15, 2008 a two year old girl named, Caylee Marie Anthony was reported missing from her Orlando Florida home. The call made by her grandmother to the authorities said that she had not seen Caylee for 31 days and that there was a foul smell in Caylee’s mother, Casey Anthony’s car similar to a dead body. She also reported that Casey stole the family’s car and money. There were several false statements given about the whereabouts of the child of which were eventually put to an end. The body of the child was found in a blanket and ruled a homicide due to the presence of duct tape. The trial lasted six weeks and the death penalty was asked for by the prosecution. Casey Anthony did not testify and the jury found Casey not guilty of first degree murder, aggravated child abuse, and aggravated manslaughter of a child but guilty of four misdemeanor counts of giving false information to the law enforcement. She was sentenced to four years in jail in which included time that she already served. She was also fined 1,000$ per count. She served three years and one day.

The topic of hate crime is so controversial because there can be different perspectives on the whole issue, which can eventually cause a massive huge debate on the entire matter. In Ben Gillis article called Understanding Hate Crime Statutes and Building Towards a Better System in Texas, the author separates his points in a way that can give the reader a better way of understanding the Hate Crime laws and the effects of it. Gillis’s way of dissecting the article is extremely effective due to the fact that not only he explains what exactly a hate crime is in its basic form but he also explains hate crime in its entirety, and he also shows how some states adapt to the whole issue. People may ask in what way does it make it in a sense “illegal”

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.

Hate Crimes Law” (Human Rights Campaign). Due to violent act such as those things and people that we choose not to understand the HRC got involved in the “The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act” (Human Rights Campaign). This act was established in 1998 to help local law enforcement help protect and have resources available to report hate crimes. The act also permits the government to provide grants, assistance to state, local authorities investigating and prosecuting in hate crimes. The federal government currently has no authority to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to

The Casey Anthony trial involves the death of her two year old daughter Caylee Anthony. Casey Anthony is accused of killing her daughter. Casey Anthony claims her two-year-old Caylee Anthony is missing On June 9, 2008 in Orange County, Florida. Anthony later tells police she dropped Caylee off at a babysitter's apartment. The name that Casey had given to the police officers was Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez. On June 16th 2008 was the last Caylee grandparents saw her alive. Casey didn’t give her parents any details about nothing. Later on in July of 2008 a post from the internet allowed Casey parent to locate the car which had been towed. There was a foul

While hate crime is a fairly new label for a crime, the existence of hate crimes has been present since the early days of the United States. Throughout US history, murders, assaults, and destruction of property has occurred against African Americans, American Indians, Irish immigrants, Asian Americans, Latino’s, gays, the mentally handicapped, and all other groups of minorities. Since the terrorist attacks on 9/11, there has been an increase in racial based attacks against those of Middle Eastern descent, whether they are Muslim or not. Of all of these, African Americans are subjected to the highest number of hate crimes (Martin 1996), with Muslims, homosexuals, and transgendered people on

<br>As hate crimes have risen in number during the past five years; many state governments have attempted to prevent such crimes by passing laws called bias laws. These laws make a crime that is motivated by hatred based on the victim's race, religion, ethnic background, or sexual orientation a more serious crime than such an act would ordinarily be. Many people believe that these laws violate the criminal's freedom of speech. Many hate group members say that freedom of speech is the right to say or write or publish one's

With all things considered, if I were a judge and ultimately had to rule on the constitutionality of hate crime laws, I would most likely rule in favor of them. However, I would definitely hold some of the arguments for hate crime laws in a much higher regard than some of the others made. As we have read in the book, there are quite a couple of different arguments for the creation of hate crime laws. These arguments typically fall under the broad categories of retribution, symbolic effect and deterrence. Overall, the concepts of retribution and symbolic effect can hold their ground in my eyes, however the deterrence argument has been criticized in multiple fields as being rather weak and at times, flawed.

On November 14, 2008 in New York, A 22 year old Transgender woman named Lateisha Green went to a house party with her brother and her friends.They were sitting outside in the car and a man came up to the car and shot her to death.Many people think the man shot her because of the way she looks.The man name is Dwight DeLee while he was shooting her, witnesses said that he made anti-gay slurs. Dwight DeLee was found guilty of manslaughter and have to face 25 years in prison. Dwight was the second person to be proven guilty of a hate crime against a Transgender woman. Hate crimes are a crime that’s usually violent that occurs when a person targets a victim because of his and her race,religion or sexual orientation.Hate crimes have a negative effect on society because people do not feel

Hate Crimes: crimes motivated by a victim’s actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or religion(Federal officials, 2011). Hate crimes have been around for centuries. A hate crime is considered any malicious crime that is derived from hatred towards a certain group of people. African Americans are still victim to hate crimes, even after the Civil Rights movement. James Byrd Jr. suffered a prime example of a gruesome hate crime in 1998, because of his African American descent. Three white men, allegedly, chained Byrd to the back of a pickup truck and dragged him down a gravel road, leaving his body parts severed and bloody (Marty,1998). Recently, a new group of people has been targeted by the hateful view

Fourteen year old Stefan Pakreeah was lured to a local park by one of his friends where he was beaten with a hammer and stabbed repeatedly. Pakreeah’s parents claim the murderer was