We can trace the origin of hate crime back to the Roman Empire; however in the US what we now call hate crime were executed by the Klu Klux Klan following the Civil War (Salami, 2012). In the UK the term hate crime began to be used after World War Two and official recognition occurred after the urban riots of 1981. The murder of Stephen Lawrence was a development in highlighting that problems of hate crime existed but were not being acknowledged. The only Criminal Justice Agency that will investigate hate crime is the Police. Although many laws and policies have been put in place since then to protect individuals from hate crime, much more is still to be done but the progress already achieved cannot be ignored (Williams, 2009).
What constitutes a crime in one place may not be in another place and hate crime has many diverse definitions but law enforcement in the UK define it as “Hate crime involves any criminal offence which is perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by hostility or prejudice based on a personal characteristic” (Home Office, 2013). However Hall, (2005) says that the word “hate crime” is not very helpful as it can be misleading. Simply hate crime is a criminal offence which is driven by hate whether that is due to a person’s identity, race, religion, faith or sexual orientation.
Hate crimes damage the feelings of security of not only the victim but also the wider community or people who share the same characteristic as the victim because it is their identity which is being specifically targeted (Iganski, 2008). Hate crimes are often committed by groups of young people (Gerstenfeld, 2004) and the majority of hate crimes are due to thrill, defensive and retaliatory and they are largely carried ...
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...(Ed) Hate Crime: Concepts, Causes, Controversies Willan
Press Association. (2013). UK anti- Muslim hate crime soars, Police figures show. Guardian. 27 Dec. Retrieved from: http://www.theguardian
Salami, I. (2012). RACISM AND “HATE CRIME” IN THE U.S.: The Ku Klux Klan Still “Kill At Will”. [Accessed: 23rd April 2014]. Available at: http://www.globalresearch.ca
Satchell, P. (2007) Hate speech v free speech. Guardian. 10th Oct. Retrieved from: http://www.theguardian.com
Takolia, N. (2011). How do we tackle the prejudice of the far right?. Guardian. 10 Nov. Retrieved from: http://www.theguardian.com
Williams, R. (2009). Pilkington case may be a Lawrence moment for disability hate crime. The Guardian, 30 September, p. 3.
Wright, O. (2014). Exclusive: Race Hate- a crime the police will not solve. Independent. 13 Jan. Retrieved from: http://www.independent.co.uk
However, hate crimes can be deemed as a form of prejudice. It is a form of prejudice that is fixed upon a group of people built on their culture, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, religious preference, or any other essential characteristic. We must keep in mind, that anytime when there is diversity amongst groups of individuals who come into the presence of one another, there is a greater risk or the opportunity for tension or a conflict to emerge. Without a doubt, this primes violence. No matter if the alleged misconduct in question is assault, theft, verbal abuse or even murder, the enthusiasm that stems from such, is grounded on the concept of hate for a set of individuals that is declared or considered as appearing different in some sort of way ("History of Hate Crime - Crime Museum", 2017).
Hate crimes have been a problem even in the past. Maybe worst than it is today. Some examples are the Ku Klux Klan and Holocaust. The Ku Klux Klan was a organization of whites who primarily targeted african americans according to the Tanenbaum organization. Although they had a primary target, they also killed homosexuals, people who helped african americans, and recently catholics. This is a major example of hate groups extremist committing hate crimes. They target a group of people who are different, and treat them as if they were not equal. Hate crimes can vary from leaving a hateful message to kidnapping and murder. The holocaust in Europe is also considered as a hate crime. They targeted the jews due to their hatred of them. According to the human rights campaign, since 1968, federal laws made did not cover much areas of hate crimes. Things like voting improved from a result of these laws, but gay and lesbian hate crimes have not been helped. Another incident of hate crime rising in the U.S. is 9/11. During the bombing of the Twin Towers, it caused the Americans to unite, but the downfall of the incident caused a brewing of hatred for muslims. “The Americans had hatred growing on muslims even if they were believed not to be the attackers”(hrc.org). Hate crimes have been bad since the past 100 years.
The dualistic cultural tendency to condemn hate crimes while ignoring these crimes' social and historical imbrications indicates that the ideological pattern termed "new racism" has come to characterize, not only racial thinking, but also other forms of identity-based difference and even mainstream efforts to combat bigotry. The result being that the bigotry manifest in hate crimes is unequivocally defined as criminal, while the differences that initiated these crimes in the first place are rendered moot. Bigotry appears deviant, while the status of being in a minority group is viewed as either neutral or irrelevant. The myth of the color-blind society transmogrifies within these narratives into the myth of the post-difference society. ( LEWIS
There are several reasons why offenders commit hate crimes, they vary from case to case, however, one key element is fear which is caused by ignorance. The offenders fear the unknown and the competition they feel that exists, them vs. the ‘others’. When fear is accompanied by other factors it could potentially lead to a violent crime. “The
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 ...
Hate speech directs people to commit hateful crimes. The difference between hate crimes and regular crimes is that hate crimes are committed to a person because of his/her differences. Some examples of differences would be their gender, race, hair color, body shape, intelligence, sexual orientation, etc. Hate speech doesn’t have to be direct talking. Hate speech can now be down on the Internet or through magazine; and more people are using the Internet to publicize their vile beliefs. In the last five years, the number of hate crimes that have been reported to the FBI has increased by 3,743 (FBI statistics). That means that 11,690 hate crimes were reported in 2000 in only 48 states and not all police forces released their data. Imagine how many other hate crimes were committed that weren’t even reported to the police. Ethnic and racial violence or tension has decreased in Europe due to newly implemented hate speech laws (ABC News).
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.
As argued, exactly what is considered as hate crime is dependent on the time, the place and the people thus making it impossible to appease everyone with one single interpretation of ‘hate crime’. One thing that is clear is that the hate crime phenomenon has emerged out of a diversifying multicultural Britain, indirectly influencing groups into adopting them and us attitudes resulting in segregating communities and influencing higher levels of conflict and hate crime. Racism and its manifestation in hate crime have been a topic of sociological research and debate of great significance in the modern world. Undoubtedly, the Stephen Lawrence case and subsequent inquiry have led to profound cultural changes firmly putting society on a path progressing towards diversity acceptance. In comparison sexual orientation related hate crime is in its infancy stage in terms of research, public attitudes, and legislative changes. Since the first prosecution of a homophobic murder in the 2006 Jody Dowbrowski case, culturally we have begun to view such issues with greater importance. Commonly however, victims of both racist and homophobic hate crime must be understood as a compilation of the social and cultural context in which they have become targets. This demonstrates the acknowledgement of a holistic approach to
Lieberman M, Larner J. “Hate crime laws: punishment to fit the crime. Dissent”. 2010;(3):81. Available from: Academic OneFile, Ipswich, MA. Accessed April 1, 2014.
McVeigh, Rory., Michael R. Welch, Thoroddur Bjarnason. 2003. “Hate Crime Reporting as a Successful Social Movement Outcome.” American Sociological Association. 68: 843-867.
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
A hate crime is a crime, usually involving violence or intimidation committed against others based partially or entirely on race, ethnicity, gender, religion, sexual orientation or membership in another social group.
...ith these differencesAs Barbara McQuade said, “A hate crime is different than a simple assault because it is an attack on not just one individual victim, but an attack on everyone who shares a particular characteristic.”As presented in this paper, hate crime isn’t new but isn’t talked about too much either. These crimes are not taken as serious as they should be. Attention was brought to what hate crime is, who commits them, at what ages they are being committed, how often they occur, which states have the most and which people are targeted the most. Hate crimes are done every day and it isn’t taken seriously. It can happen to anyone in this country at any time. After reading this paper there should be enough information gathered to try and avoid these crimes. It is also shown that participating to try and put an end to these crimes would be very helpful to society.
Someone commits a hate crime every hour. In the most recent data collection, 2014, a reported 17, 876 hate crimes were committed. This is a national crisis that we cannot allow to continue.
In America, hate crimes are a rising problem. Statistics show that a hate crime is committed every hour. A cross is burned every week. Eight blacks, three whites, three gays, three Jews, and one Latino become victims every day. Today, America prides itself on being a tolerant country. Through legislation including affirmative action and movements against racism, we see ourselves as a country offering equal opportunities to all. This statement, however, is slightly biased. Contrary to popular belief, everything is not wonderful in the land of the free and home of the brave. Many live in fear of being persecuted because of who they are naturally. The United States needs to find a way to combat these crimes, mainly through introducing tougher laws regarding hate crimes.