Essay On Hate Crimes

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Recommended: Is hate crime legislation effective

Jessica Serrano December 11, 2013 Hate Crimes 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 offenders bias against a race, religion, disability, ethnic origin or sexual orientation. Crimes of hatetranscend their immediate victims and cast a shadow of fear and terror throughout entire communities. In 1999, the Hate Crimes Prevention Act was introduced to expand the federal scope of Jurisdiction to all crimes deemed motivated by hate. The Hate Crimes Prevention Act expanded the categories of protected persons to include those who were targeted because of sexual orientation, gender, or disability. By the year 2000, 42 states had enacted some form of hate crime legislation, in some cases making bias motivated violence a basis for penalty enhancements. Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 1999 sought to remove the stringent requirements that federal prosecutors must meet in order to prove the occurrence of a hate crime. Under the previous law, prosecutors needed to show that a crime occurred both because the victim was a member of a protected group, such as those identified by race, color, religion, or national origin, and because the victim was engaged in specifically named, federally protected activities such as serving on a jury, voting, or attending public school. Some people that opposed to the hate crimes laws think that enforcing Hate Crime laws are unfair and more trouble than it's worth. They believe a hate crime legislation is fraught with dangers to cherished constitutional principles including equality befor... ... middle of paper ... ... are over 11,500 hate-related sites including websites, social network pages, chat forums and bloggers. While the Internet may have enabled the spread of hate ideology, the relationship between the Internet and hate crime is ambiguous. Internet availability may increase the efficiency with which extremists can spread hate ideology, and may therefore lead to an increase in the number of hate crimes committed. Citations . N.p.. Web. 12 Dec 2013. . . N.p.. Web. 12 Dec 2013. . . N.p.. Web. 12 Dec 2013. . Healey, J. F. . Race, ethnicity, gender, and class: The sociology of group conflict and change. Sage Publications, print. . N.p.. Web. 12 Dec 2013. .

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