What are Hate Crimes?

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.

Not only are hate crimes intentional, they are personal. They carry with them an emotional and

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.

     Hate Crimes are becoming more and more common in the United States. In a report released February 13, 2001, the FBI said 7,876 hate crimes were reported in the United State in 1999. The latest figures represent an increase over the 7,755 hate crimes reported in 1998, but the difference may not be significant because more agencies were reporting such crimes to the FBI in 1999. The figures are in the FBI’s Hate Crime Statistics, an annual publication. Seventeen people were murdered in incidents classified as hate crimes, compared to 13 in 1998. Of the total the 7,876 incidents, racial bias was associated with 54.5 percent of the cases, followed by religious bias at 17.9 percent, sexual bias at 16.7, percent ethnic bias at 10.5 percent and bias against the disabled at .24 percent. Intimidation was the most frequently reported hate crime, accounting for 35.1 percent of the total. Vandalism accounted

“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.

As previously mentioned, hate crimes are borne out of one person’s prejudices. However, rarely does prejudice alone cause hate crimes. It is a toxic mixture of one’s prejudices, anger and animosities in life. (Sepulveda Carmona, 2012) First, hate crimes are caused by the mundane – thrill seeking. (Burkes, 2017) People crave the sudden rush of adrenalin

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

In many cities throughout the United States, hate crimes are on the rise. A hate crime is a "traditional offense like murder, arson, or vandalism with an added element of bias. For the purposes of collecting statistics, Congress has defined a hate crime as 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'" (FBI, 2012). Hate crimes have increased as the national conversation has grown less tolerant. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that hate crimes against Latinos, Muslims, and homosexuals have seemingly increased in recent years. However, whether hate crimes are actually on the rise is something that is debated; the upswing in reported hate crimes may be due to an actual increase in crime rates, but it could also be due to an increase in reporting.

The Klu Klux Klan, one of the most recognised hate groups in US history, was founded in 1865. They were under the impression that people of color were less valuable than white people, some even believing that they weren't human. Something people don’t realize is that groups like that are still around today, and just as active as ever. Hate groups, and just random unorganised hate crimes are just as real as me and you, and they are still an active threat. Hate Crime is relevant, and as a society, we should be doing our best to snuff out the flames of prejudice and resentment that burn in the hearts of anyone willing to participate in such unjust behavior. This kind of activity is not only hurtful emotionally, but sometimes, it turns to violence. Innocent people getting picked off the street simply because of their beliefs, who they love, or the color of their skin. This is something that nobody should stand for, especially now, in this constantly progressing world. All in all, Hate Crimes are a real problem, and in order to stop injustice such as this, we need to work together as human beings to accept people, regardless of who they are.

This speech grew to action, which led Nazi leaders to implement the “Final Solution,” and the massacre of six million Jews.  But what about hate crimes today in the United States, how are hate-based murders different from a murder of a random individual.  The answer to that question is in the brutality of the crime.  Hate crimes are, for the most part, inherently more brutal because of deeply rooted ideals between two opposing groups.  This brutality has led many, including former president Bill Clinton to call for legislation against hate crimes (Hellwege).

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

Hate crimes happen for multiple reasons, according to Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) in 2015 6, 837 single bias hate crimes were reported. (Uniform Crime Reporting) Among these 58.9 percent stemmed from race, 19.8 were because of religious bias, 17.8 percent were because of

A hate crime is an illegal act that is specifically done to a type of group and for this instance, race and gender. The top two races that had the highest rate of victims were between blacks and white. The black race defeated every other race in victims by over 1,000 and having a total of 2,022 victims. Of anti-black or African American bias, 62.7 percent were victims of crimes motivated by their offenders. Second was the white race with a total of 734 casualties from hate crime. It is to no surprise that these two parties have the highest number of victims, because they are the ones who are most populated and have the most minorities within them.

They also occur because of the failure to understand that there are differences between people and their traditions. Often times, people feel intimidated by people who speak a different language. They don’t know what they’re saying, maybe they’re talking about them, and they may also feel jealous because of it. People may commit hate crimes against immigrants because they feel like they’re taking jobs away from the American people and feel like they shouldn’t be in America because it isn’t their original country. Another reason people commit crimes against immigrants is because they feel that they get assistance from the government that Americans don’t. Some American people also don’t want the immigrants to mix in with their race or in American society period. Offenders of hate crimes just like the thrill of committing a crime on someone of a group they don’t like. Other offenders who truly dislike another race will continue to commit these crimes against them until they are caught by authority.In some cases, being a victim of a hate crime is the reason it’s committed. Some victims feel threatened by the race that they were attacked by. Some of the victims just want revenge from the group that they were attacked by.Offender age range and top citiesHate crimes are mostly done by young people between the ages of 15 and 24 years old. In some cases, offenders may even go up to being 26 years of age. The main states in the United States where hate

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,