Hate crimes have been present in the United States since the country first began. As an act of oppression toward one’s religious beliefs, race, or sexuality, the committer’s motives could be of many. Today, as a country of over three hundred million, it would be impossible to fully abolish all hate crimes. There are, though, many patterns of past events that are continually re-occurring. But what is new about hate crimes in the United States, today? For starters, one noticeably new facet of hate crimes is the exposure they receive through large media outlets. These I speak of are the CNN and Fox News corporations, both on the internet and the television. Although these outlets themselves are not new, their tendency to over-cover such criminal …show more content…
Recently, the trans-gender bathroom debate caused a minor increase in attack towards them. More dramatically, per the New York Times, attacks on Muslims saw a 6% increase from the previous year. Amidst a heavily publicized political year, such an increase could very well be from coverage of such. So, what got us to this point? The most apparent driving force, over the past decade alone, has been the rapid rise in technology. Whether it be television or the internet, both have surged increasingly each year in growth and influence. The globe is become inter-connected more and more as this technology continues to rise. Although it has been a mere miracle in terms of communication, many problems have also risen along with it. Our human minds are not wired for extremely high levels of exposure to information; incrementally, especially. Such exposure can cause problems to arise that should have never in the first place. Emotions can stir through being overwhelmed, and I believe this is also facet to a rise in hate crimes. But where did this rise of over-information …show more content…
With more people come more problems to address and prepare for, which will continue to be the case in many other facets of life. In preparation, however, it will be up to the media outlets mentioned earlier to inform people correctly. But, Denzel Washington said it best, stating: “When you watch the “news”, you are misinformed. If you do not watch the “news”, you are un-informed.” This seemingly paradoxical truth is what has driven such a dramatic spike in hate crimes since the early 1990s. I am not blaming major news outlets for all hate crimes; however, I do object as to how they go about distributing their information. Fear and angst sells their programs, but sells out the people who watch them trustfully. We need un-tampered truth to rise above for any change to come about in the future. This can only happen through proper use of highly accessibly distribution methods, such as social media, without the hand of one with an
Hate crimes are terrible things that are becoming more and more common in America because people don’t like the way they look or feel. The purpose of the “ Debate: What is a Hate Crime” is to teach people of a crime that is becoming quite important in the society.
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)
Hate crimes are done too frequently in the United States. Although we have laws that supposedly regulate them, many people still feel the need to commit acts of violence on people that are different than them. Many of these crimes originate with some sort of hate speech. People get ideas from other people, passed down from previous generations.
The term hate crime first appeared in the late 1980’s as a way of understanding a racial incident in the Howard Beach section of New York City, in which a black man was killed while attempting to evade a violent mob of white teenagers, shouting racial epithets. Although widely used by the federal government of the United States, the media, and researchers in the field, the term is somewhat misleading because it suggests incorrectly that hatred is invariably a distinguishing characteristic of this type of crime. While it is true that many hate crimes involve intense animosity toward the victim, many others do not. Conversely, many crimes involving hatred between the offender and the victim are not ‘hate crimes’ in the sense intended here. For example an assault that arises out of a dispute between two white, male co-workers who compete for a promotion might involve intense hatred, even though it is not based on any racial or religious differences... ...
Hate crime legislation is needed. Crimes are on the upswing, becoming more public, more violent, and more acceptable in certain places of society. Without the proposed laws there is little chance that this shall become any less prevalent. As NGLTF, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, a well-respected agency who fights for equal rights for homosexuals, stated in their December 1997 article, the exclusion or removal of sexual orientation from hate crimes legislation by law makers is morally indefensible at a time when anti-gay violence is widespread. Failure to address this critical problem sends a dangerous message to law enforcement and the public that anti-gay violence does not exist, or worse, is somehow less reprehensible than violence against other minorities.
When the topic of hate and bias crime legislation is brought up two justifications commonly come to mind. In her article entitled “Why Liberals Should Hate ‘Hate Crime Legislation” author Heidi M. Hurd discusses the courts and states views that those who commit hate and bias crimes ought to be more severely punished. She takes into consideration both sides of the argument to determine the validity of each but ultimately ends the article in hopes to have persuaded the reader into understanding and agreeing with her view that laws concerning the punishment of hate and bias laws should not be codified. Hate crime is described as a violent, prejudice crime that occurs when a victim is targeted because of their membership in a specific group. The types of crime can vary from physical assault, vandalism, harassment or hate speech. Throughout the article Hurd tried to defend her view and explain why there should be no difference of punishment for similar crimes no matter the reason behind it. Her reason behind her article came from the law that President Obama signed in 2009 declaring that crimes committed with hatred or prejudice should have more sever punishments. While the court has their own views to justify their reasoning behind such decisions, in the article Hurd brings up points and facts to prove the wrongfulness of creating such a law. However, though Hurd has made her views clear in the following essay I will discuss reasons why the penalties are justifiable, why they should receive the same degree of punishment, less punishment and my personal view on the topic.
The fact that hate crimes still occur in America is another signpost that tolerance is still an unheard of notion to a lot of people. In 2007 the Federal Bureau of Investigation released statistics showing that 2,105 law enforcement agencies reported 9,080 offences of hate crime. This includes vandalism, intimidation, simple and aggravated assault, and murder. This also includes not only race statistics, but religious, sexual orientation, ethnicity, and disability motivated crimes. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission released statistics of discrimination charges for the same year with all ...
There are both state and federal laws that prohibit hate crimes, but proving an assailant committed a crime in prejudice is very difficult. Any type of crime can call for some form of punishment, from fines and short prison stays for misdemeanors to long term imprisonment for felonies. Once it has been reviled that an accused willfully committed an offense, proof must be given that indicates the crime was influenced by prejudice against a specific characteristic in order to show that it was also a hate crime. When this can be proven, the harshness of the crime automatically increases. People often wonder why hate crime punishment is harsher than for crimes that are not motivated by any type of bias. The basic reason for this is that most crimes are directed at an individual, but hate crimes are against an entire community. A burglar who breaks into a random home does so for personal gain, and usually doesn’t even know who lives in the home they are invading. Conversely, a person who chooses a victim based on a particular bias is singling out a ch...
For example, journals or records might describe the hatred and contain plans for crimes to be committed against the targeted group. In other cases, classification of a hate crime is by the judgment of law enforcement and prosecutors. The FBI quotes a statement by the American Psychological Association about hate crime: "...not only is it an attack on one's physical self, but is also an attack on one's very identity." Attacks upon individuals because of a difference in how they look, pray or behave have long been a part of human history. It is only recently, however, that our society has given it a name and decided to monitor it, study it and legislate against it."
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...
Scapegoating is when a person irrationally blames their failures on others, therefore not taking responsibility themselves. The “scapegoating theory says that prejudiced people believe they are society’s victims” (Schaefer 38). It is always someone else’s fault that things do not go their way and the person “… transfers the responsibility for failure to some vulnerable group” (Schaefer 38).
Today we have looked at the problem known as hate crimes and the varied causes which keep it in existence. We have also discussed some solutions to this act of hate.
There are many who believe hate crime should be punished more severely since it ‘’has the potential to cause greater harm.’’ (Hate Crime Laws, 2014) Hate crimes, like racial discrimination, have unfortunately been a part of this country for centuries, racial discrimination was rampant in the 19th and 20th century, but mostly in the south; many segregation laws were created at the time ‘’that banned African Americans from voting, attending certain schools, and using public accommodations. ’’ (Hate Crime Laws, 2014)
Communication is a critical thing in today’s society because the exchange of information is vital in living. People live both locally and globally through technological connections by maintaining contact and interaction between individuals from all corners of the world. Communication binds people, helps maintaining the society healthy and enables people to interact and make friends from different regions and cultures. According to Adrian in 2006, communication and information technology plays a great role in the individuals’ life. There is a high rate of growth of the communication technology industry and the benefits as more people come up with new means of communication by day. A point has reached where activities cannot function without information technology due to the many benefits which come along with the current day technologies. Moreover, the industry plays a great role in improving the nation’s economy by facilitating fast and easier means of doing things and offering employment to many people across the world.
The internet has influenced, and is still influencing the way society communicates in many different ways. The rise of the internet has caused people to communicate differently in areas never dreamed of before the internet came into existence. Education has been revolutionized through the world of the “Information Super Highway”. Medicine has also seen reform as the internet improves research and communication. Individuals are starting businesses from scratch, while others are selling household items for extra cash. This internet “typhoon” sweeping the globe has become a way of life for many individuals all across the globe.