Hate Crimes and The Mitchell v. Wisconsin Decision

6.Jacobs, James B. “Hate Crime Legislation: Challenging Intolerance.” Current Sep. 1992: 7.Jost, Kenneth. “Hate Crimes.” The CQ Researcher Jan.8, 1993 8.McCafferty, Dennis “WWW.HATE.COMES TO YOUR HOME: Is it Free Speech? Or Does it Incite Violence?” USA Weekend March 26-28: 6-7 9.McCarthy, Sarah J. “Fertile Ground For Terrorist?” Humanist Jan./Feb.

The most recent legislation has been directed specifically to acts of hate against people of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, etc. The Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act, S. 625, also known as the Hate Crime Prevention Act, if enacted would strengthen current law as it relates to hate crimes motivated by a victim’s race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, etc. Hate crimes are not only destructive to the victims and their families, but damaging to the victims families and friends. It also is very damaging to our American ideals. America stands and shines for diversity and equality.

Interpretations of the law allow a lot of leeway in order to shape legislation to the needs of the plaintiff or victim. General crime legislation serves the purpose of protecting the public, yet only certain motivations of crimes enable the judiciary to assign additional charges to a defendant guilty of a hate crime. The protected rights of citizens are believed to guarantee peace and tranquility. The most recent additions to everyday crime legislation have challenged this peace and created chaos between the supporters and opposers of these changes. Despite the United States developing hate crime legislation that suffices to maintain justice within the judiciary system, numerous legislative experts strongly believe these most recent changes create unnecessary bias.

Hate Crimes What constitutes a hate crime? What makes a hate crime different from a crime or are they one in the same. If you believe that there is a different between a hate crime and a crime, then how can we legislate hate crimes fairly and without bias on a consist basis? When it comes to hate crimes their seems to be more questions then answers and there also seems to be a lot of uncertainty within the law itself. Hate crime laws should no longer exist in are justice system because every violent crime involves an element of hate and it is impossible to prove a person’s motive or hate in the court of law.

The punishment for hate crimes are very insignificant considering the deviant who committed a hate crime targeted an entire group of people. Hate crimes are very serious offensive but determining where to draw the line can be difficult. Hate crimes are very serious and can have lasting effects on victims. 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.

On the other hand, opponents argue that we don’t have the power to take another human being’s life; so it encourages a culture of violence that violates our human rights. Opponents also argue that the execution discriminates against minorities and the poor. Through these many viewpoints I believe that the issue of capital punishment will continue to be a controversy. One of the main reasons why I decided to ... ... middle of paper ... ...ica Have Capital Punishment? : The Experts on Both Sides Make Their Best Case.

Walker pointed out few basic assumptions which are related to deterrence theory that may not work at the real world. First, offenders have to be aware of the threat (123). For example, they have to know that they are exposed to being caught if there are more police officers out there to arrest them. Second, offenders have to perceive that violations of law may lead to unwanted incidents, so they need to be avoided. They should realize the criminal record is bad for their future; if they want to apply for a job, there is low possibility that interviewers will accept them since they have criminal records.

Cross-sectional work such as the work of Lyons (2007) or Green et al. (1998) have been useful in assessing larger instances of hate crime offending, and for revealing correlations that suggest hate crimes are often reactionary and even retaliatory in nature (For example, Levin & McDevitt, 1993). Unfortunately, prior work utilizing a cross-sectional approach has neglected to examine the timing of hate crimes relative to other temporally proximate events that might serve as triggers, such as a terror attack for example. This presents a problem in the literature for a number of reasons. Firstly, time-series research on hate crimes, such as violence against ethnic minorities rich in terms of results.

According to Levin & McDevitt, 2003; “these diverse crimes could polarize communities along racial and ethnic lines and thereby undermine the ongoing American experiment of fostering multicultural tolerance and the celebration of diversity” (Karmen, 2013, p. 40). According to several authors, these impacts can be increas... ... middle of paper ... ...le because of their membership of certain groups could be paving the way for greater intolerance and more aggressive forms of hate crime” (Ardley, 2005, p. 62). Therefore; it is highly important that reports of hate crimes are being adequately reported by the victims and are not being overlooked by law enforcement or the government itself. : Works Cited Ardley, Jenny. "Hate crimes: A brief review."

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 .