Hate crimes are not a new concept for society, because hate crimes have always been around. While the study of hate crimes and the laws that have been passed because of hate crimes is relatively new, hate crimes have always been around. Hate crimes were committed as far back as the 1800’s and even back to The Civil War. Hate crimes are prevalent in society today just like they were in the past; because whether the crimes are aimed towards Muslims, the gay community, or any other minority group; they are fueled by something that every person has come into contact with- prejudice. Prejudice is defined as a preconceived thought or opinion about someone. While prejudice can be positive, in the concept of hate crimes they are negative feelings, thoughts, or opinions that are aimed towards a certain religious, ethnic, race, or even sexual orientation group. The typical definition of hate crime is that a crime has been committed by a majority member against a minority member simply because the victim was a minority. However, as of recent the definition has been expanded to allow for any crime committed by bias towards the victim’s social group such as anti-gay or anti-lesbian. Hate crimes are an extreme, potential effect due to prejudice and discrimination towards someone based on ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation. These crimes are committed against an individual or a group of individuals based solely on the fact that they are part of a group that the offender doesn’t approve of whether it is because they are a different race or following an alternative lifestyle. While the hate crimes are not something that is new in society because prejudice has always been around, the concept of a bias-crime and the legal precedent that it ha... ... middle of paper ... ...on, and Gendering of Federal Hate Crime Law in the U.S., 1985-1998.” University of California Press on behalf of the Society for the Study of Social Problems. 46: 548-571. King, Ryan D., Steven. F Messner, Robert D. Baller. 2009. “Contemporary Hate Crimes, Law Enforcement and the Legacy of Racial Violence.” American Sociological Association. 74: 291-315. Lyons, Christopher J. 2006. “Stigma or Sympathy? Attributions of Fault to Hate Crime Victims and Offenders.” American Sociological Association. 69:39-59 McVeigh, Rory., Michael R. Welch, Thoroddur Bjarnason. 2003. “Hate Crime Reporting as a Successful Social Movement Outcome.” American Sociological Association. 68: 843-867. Medoff, H. 1999. “Allocation of Time and Hateful Behavior: A Theoretical Analysis and Positive Analysis of Hate and Hate Crimes.” American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Inc. 58: 959-973
Have you ever had a crime committed against you? In today’s society we are faced with crime all around us. There are crimes committed out of rage, revenge, jealousy, love, greed, etc; but there is another type of crime, or one could say act of violence, called hate crimes. Have you ever thought maybe that crime was committed against just because of your racial background, or religious beliefs? Throughout this country’s history, hate crimes have taken place, either by known groups who hate and, most commonly, individuals that are inspired by hate. Not until recently have the people of this country ever wanted to pass a law that would punish the guilty to an even higher extent because the crime was committed out of hate. There are two sides to every issue. Whether or not the issue is valid or if it is an unrealistic concept created by the media or by the federal government, then, in my opinion, passing a law of this type is totally unrealistic. It is almost impossible to prove that a crime is committed out of a bias hate. I feel that a law that punishes hate crimes should not be passed.
Holmes, Malcolm D. "Minority threat and police brutality: Determinants of civil rights criminal complaints in US municipalities." Criminology 38.2 (2000): 343-368.
According to Petrosino (2003: 10) hate crimes can be defined as "..the victimisation of minorities due to their racial or ethnic identity by members of the majority. " (p. 4) Hate crimes are also known as bias-motivated crimes because the crimes are motivated by a bias towards a person or persons including but not limited to those of a different gender, ethnic background, religion, or sexual orientation. Hate crimes are quite serious and have severe and long lasting-effects for the targeted victims. Due to the severe nature of the crimes many countries have strict laws in place to punish offenders. Hate crime is not widely discussed in Canadian society because it has not been a prominent issue until now. “..The extent of the problem in Canada was limited to a small number of persons, such activity could create a climate of malice and destructiveness to the values of our society (Cohen Report, 1966:24). As a result of the committee’s efforts, Parliament amended the Criminal Code in 1970, thus rendering hate propaganda as a punishable offence (Law Reform Commission of Canada, 1986:7)
The American Heritage Dictionary defines hate as intense dislike or animosity. However, defining hate as the basis for a crime is not as easy without possibly jeopardizing constitutional rights in the process. Hate crime laws generally add enhanced punishments to existing statues. A hate crime law seeks to treat a crime, if it can be demonstrated that the offense was a hate crime differently from the way it would be treated under ordinary criminal law. Since the 1980s, the problem of hate crimes has attracted increasing research attention, especially from criminologists and law enforcement personnel who have focused primarily on documenting the prevalence of the problem and formulation criminal justice responses to it. Lawmakers have passed legislation to encourage data collection and attach enhanced penalties to hate crimes at both state and federal levels.
Levin, b (2002). From slavery to hate crime: the emergence of race and status based
Laws continue to become protective of victims whether it is for hate crime or not. As time passes, more research will be conducted and laws will be created and modified. An example is, if a boss decides he no longer need your services, so he lets you go, which is no crime at all. But, if he decides to do so because he does not believe your race should being working for the company, it then becomes a hate crime when they verbalize that reason. That boss can be charged with a violation title IV of a Civil Rights
When arguing that hate and bias crime should receive more punishment one of the main facts taken into consideration i...
With the increase in hate crimes in America, minority groups are starting to become the prey of the beasts who commit these awful crimes. So the minority groups (Asians, African Americans, Jewish people, Homosexuals, and others) have been pushing to have hate crime laws passed to protect them from violence and ridicule. The laws that are in affect now are only slightly protective of the minorities in hate crimes. The laws that are in state right now say that a hate crime offender can only be prosocuted for their crimes if they are prohibiting the minority or victum of the hate crime from a “federally protected right”. Such as attending school, voting and etc. The victums of hate crimes do not think that these laws are very strict. The victoms are demanding newer stricter laws. The victoms or minorities want these newer stricter laws because basically they have no protection from violence. The old laws basically just state that if you are prohibiting the person from doing something you are at fault. Well the minorities want these stiffened and they want them to be harsher. An example of what the minorities want is any act done against anyone with intent to cause bodily harm or death because the person was part of a minority group will carry the fine of being federally prosecuted and with that there is the chance of the death penalty.
Society consists of many different sociological groups. These groups involve people of diverse races, religions, and more. Unfortunately, hate crimes happen when groups become angry or frustrated towards each other. These groups are formed mostly during times of economic struggle or even social change. Hate groups continue to be a problem in our society. A group believes that the reason for a specific problem is only the fault of another racial, religious, or other group. The most common forms of crime in our society are due to hatred. Hate crimes are defined as a crime motivated by hatred, prejudice, or intolerance of somebody’s race, religion, ethnicity, political affiliation, disability, and/or sexual orientation. Plenty of hate crimes happen due to the fact that someone is different from someone else.
Grattet R, Jenness V. “Transforming Symbolic Law into Organizational Action: Hate Crime Policy and Law Enforcement Practice”. Social Forces. Available from: Business Source Complete, Ipswich, MA. September 2008;87(1):501-527. Accessed April 1, 2014.
A hate crime is described as a crime in which the victim is targeted specifically because of their "actual or perceived race, color, national origin, ethnicity, gender, disability, or sexual orientation.” The word hate crime did not exist until the 1980’s but the FBI had been investigating hate crimes as early as the 1930’s. After the passage of the Civil Right Act of 1964 the role of the federal government increased with more violence against African Americans. Hate crime legislation was first introduced in the 1980’s and was pass in the early 1990’s by way of the The Hate Crimes Statistics Act. The Hate Crimes Statistics Act only gave the FBI the power to track and record hate crime statistics. In October of 2009, the Hate Crimes Prevention Act or “The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act” was passed. The new law gave the Department of Justice the power to investigate and prosecute bias-motivated violence (FBI).
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 have to be because of racial hatred. Racial Hatred is a major factor in hate crimes with African Americans being the main target. According to the FBI database in 1996, 4,831 out of the 7,947 such crimes reported to the FBI, or 60%, were promulgated because of race, with close to two-thirds (62%) targeting African Americans.
If you think hate crimes are something that have just recently started occuring, or if you think these things don’t happen anymore, you’re wrong. Statistics say hate crime rates went up 8% in 2006 and then decreased in 2012. But statistics aren’t always correct, because they just show reported hate crimes, some victims are too scared to report it. Plus, hate crimes have always been apart of history. If you don’t believe me, some examples are Jesus’ crucifixion, the Holocaust, and Martin Luther King Jr.‘s assassination. Jesus was crucified because of his religion- the Romans didn’t like that he claimed to be God’s son so they executed him. The Holocaust was also because of religion- the Nazis were against the Jews so they took them out of their homes and sent them out to concentration camps which ended up killing a lot of them. Martin Luther King Jr. was k...
Hate Crime in the United States of America THESIS: In this research paper, information will be given on hate crime in the United States of America. It’s best to know about these types of crimes before it’s too late because it’s rarely reported or spoken about but does occur on regular bases. Hate crime didn't come about until the early 1980's. It's sad how these types of crimes still occur so many years later; there are innocent people who are attacked simply because of their race, religion or sexual orientation. Based on the articles, hate crime in the USA is very common and the chances to be a victim are high enough. Hate crimes are ignorant and pointless, they need to be stopped.Done to many different people in many different waysHate crimes are biased motivated, they're based on ethnicity, gender, language, nationality, physical appearance and sexual orientation. Hate crimes have various ways of being committed. They can be done either by physically assaulting another individual, doing damage to their property, bullying them, harassing them, verbal abusing or insulting someone. Hate crimes occur because of people who are prejudice and ignorant who can’t understand that there are differences among people. A victim of hate crime is more than likely to be attacked by another individual because of their race. The most common type of hate crimes that are committed is racially motivated. While gay people are also attacked often also, hate crimes based on sexual orientation come in second. In 2012 and 2013 there were 42,236 reported hate crimes. 85% were race hate crimes, 10% were sexual orientation, 4% were disability and religion hate crimes and 1% transgender. The FBI has found that most hate crime offenders are white at 70%...
The last figures of studies show a reported 17, 876 hate crimes. While these statistics are alarming, they are only a numerical representation and cannot ever convey the fear, sorrow, and torment suffered by the human beings and communities against whom the crimes were committed.