Hate crimes are difficult to fathom, primarily because they involve the unprovoked physical attacking and, sometimes, murder of people based on race and ethnicity. A more formal definition of hate crimes is presented by Shepard (2017, p. 285). As he writes, “a hate crime is a criminal act that is motivated by extreme prejudice,” This is a very good, concise and accurate definition, nevertheless, hate crimes are not the outcome of unimaginable heights of discrimination. Most people have prejudices and many have stereotypes regarding others, whether it be racial or class stereotypes. Nobody is completely lacking in any form, shape or type of prejudice but, the much greater percentage does not physically attack, beat or murder those whom they …show more content…
Between 2006 to 2017, as reported by O’Reilly, hate crimes targeting Muslims has increased by an outstanding 91%. The average increase in all forms of hate crimes rose by 41% between 2016-2017 (Farivar, 2017). Hence, inarguable statistics and numbers establish a very high rate of increase in hate crimes, most especially during 2016-2017, coinciding with the campaign and subsequent election of Donald Trump. There are many theories of crime, with criminologists, psychologist and sociologists, debating whether criminality is an an outcome of nature, as in genetically inherited, or produced by nurture (Brinkerhoff, White and Ortega, 2011). Even though the debate is ongoing, most criminologists, sociologists and psychologists agree that cases in which criminality is linked to nature, are extremely rare. Instead, they emphasise, criminality as a product of nurture (Brinkerhoff, White and Ortega, 2011). This means that people who commit heinous hate crimes were presumably raised in an environment which expressed extreme prejudice towards a certain racial, ethnic or religious group and truly believed that the world would be a better place without them in it, or, at least, without them living in the United States (Brinkerhoff, White and Ortega, 2011). As indicated, hate crimes can be explained through the use of theory and, one such theory is the symbolic interactionism theory. As criminologists were engaged in attempting to
Hate Crimes: crimes motivated by a victim’s actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or religion(Federal officials, 2011). Hate crimes have been around for centuries. A hate crime is considered any malicious crime that is derived from hatred towards a certain group of people. African Americans are still victim to hate crimes, even after the Civil Rights movement. James Byrd Jr. suffered a prime example of a gruesome hate crime in 1998, because of his African American descent. Three white men, allegedly, chained Byrd to the back of a pickup truck and dragged him down a gravel road, leaving his body parts severed and bloody (Marty,1998). Recently, a new group of people has been targeted by the hateful view
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
While hate crime is a fairly new label for a crime, the existence of hate crimes has been present since the early days of the United States. Throughout US history, murders, assaults, and destruction of property has occurred against African Americans, American Indians, Irish immigrants, Asian Americans, Latino’s, gays, the mentally handicapped, and all other groups of minorities. Since the terrorist attacks on 9/11, there has been an increase in racial based attacks against those of Middle Eastern descent, whether they are Muslim or not. Of all of these, African Americans are subjected to the highest number of hate crimes (Martin 1996), with Muslims, homosexuals, and transgendered people on
In 2009, 6,604 hate crime incidents were reported to the FBI, 48.8% of which were motivated by race, 19.7% by religious prejudice, 18.5%by sexual orientation, 11.8% by ethnicity, and 1.5% by disability bias (Hate Crime Statistics, 2009). Recently, the FBI released the 2010 statistics that unfortunately reveal a slight increase in the number of hate crime incidents: 6,628 incidents were reported in 2010, 47.3% of which were motivated by race, 20% by religious prejudice, 19.3% by sexual orientation, 12.8% by ethnicity, and .6% by disability bias (Hate Crime Statistics, 2010). While racially-motivated and disability-motivated crimes appear to have decreased, hate crime motivated by religion, sexual orientation, and ethnicity has risen in the last year. Improvements in hate crime laws and punishments are necessary in order for these statistics to decrease.
Prejudice can lead to many things. Hate crimes are something every individual has to be concerned with. Targets are not always based on race, but based on social class. Hate crimes are not always an uncontrollable or random act.
Over the years, America has been prone to this violent act of hate crime that puts its citizens in a situation of distressed and confusion. Hate crimes have been a part of America’s history and culture for decades. Because America is a diverse country, the level of hate crimes is outrageous in many different levels due to different cultures, ethnicities, skin colors, and religions. Hate crime is a serious act and has influenced our society today to look at certain people a different way. It is not an act that people are born with rather than they are taught by it or it was inherited within a particular social group. With the election of President Trump in 2016, hate crime activities have really increased in just a year’s matter. President Donald Trump plays a role in really highlighting these hate crimes and almost making it seem like he is promoting hate crimes though many of his speeches and statements. Of the many factors that contribute to the highly increasing hate crime activities, there are four factors that I believe are contributing to the increasing hate crime activities. Those four factors are thrill seeking, retaliation, mission offenders, and the income inequality. These factors all have a part into why hate crime activities are increasing over the year.
There has always been presence of hate crimes amongst all people: particularly directed against minority groups. Before being accepted by society, minority groups have had to endure some kind of hostility against them. Enduring this hostility while advocating for their rights earned them acceptance into society. In my reading of Chapter 7, I came across the Race-Conflict Theory about hate crimes and my mind immediately made a connection to a recent murder that is believed to have been a hate crime. I choose this particular article because it terrifies me that anti-Muslim hate crimes are on the rise. I have always heard of people who complained about hate crimes that they experienced or about being mistreated because they are from a particular ethnic
Hate crimes may be caused by the social structures as social pressures to commit the crime. As Chakraborti N (2010) suggests that people usually will suffer strain because of difficulties and a lack of consensus serves to stir debate among practitioners. People
First, from the victim's point of view, the purpose of hate/bias crimes adds the extra dimensions of fear and devaluation to the victimization. Someone has been targeted due to a core characteristic of his or her identity that cannot be changed. If membership in a target group is readily visible, the victim may feel particularly vulnerable to a repeat attack that can result in a feeling of hopelessness. The fears are also exacerbated because society has been slower to respond to hate/bias crimes than to random "stranger" crimes. The victim may then become afraid to associate with other members of the group who have been targeted or may resist seeking needed services, believing that these actions will increase his or her
Hate crimes are very common in today’s society, they can range from various ethnicities and orientations as well as the severity of the crime committed. A hate crime is defined as “the violence of intolerance and bigotry, intended to hurt and intimidate someone because of their race, ethnicity, national origin, religious, sexual orientation, or disability. The purveyors of hate use explosives, arson, weapons, vandalism, physical violence, and verbal threats of violence to instill fear in their victims, leaving them vulnerable to more attack and feeling alienated, helpless, suspicious and fearful”. These attacks are fueled by a hatred for the victim’s personal lifestyle. As mentioned above, hate crimes are not specific to one group of people, the crimes can be found in every aspect of society, some are just more obvious than others. In a 2014 study it was found that 51 percent of hate crimes were motivated by the victims ethnicity. Race was the second highest rate of motivation. According to this study, it has been determined that majority of hate crimes can be classified as “simple assaults”. In relation to these statistics it is estimated that only 4% of the assaults resulted in an arrest. It is also believed that more than 60% of hate crimes are not reported. These are not reported because the victims think that nothing will come out of reporting their attacks. Also, the actual victims reported only 22% of hate crimes, while someone else reported 12%. These types crimes
Hate crimes have a devastating effect, beyond the harm inflicted on any, one victim (). They resound through families, communities, and the entire nation, as others fear that they too could be threatened, attacked, or forced from their homes, because of what they look like, who they are, where they worship, whom they love, or whether they have a disability (). Hate crime is defined as an offense in which the victim is targeted because of the actual or perceived race, color, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or national origin of that victim (Sullaway, 2004). On the basis of the legal definition, most researchers of hate crime tend to conceptualize hate crime as a manifestation of intergroup conflict or violence (e.g., Levin & McDevitt, 2002; Levin & Rabrenovic, 2001). They are motivated by the distinctiveness of the victim(s)because the offender only targets victims with different groups (Sun, K, 2006) and they tend to justify themselves with numerous excuses, however, researchers have now been questioning the offender's mentality. With this sort of conceptualization of a hate crime and the reasoning behind them, it has then since begun to change clinical interventions with the victims of a hate crime and the research done is now focusing on the objective of the offender of a hate crime and distinctive factors or with lead to the offender's mentality.
Hate crime generally refers to a “criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, ethnic origin or sexual orientation”, (Hall, 2013).
Christopher Mathias on the HuffPost said, “A prominent American Muslim civil liberties group says it recorded a nearly 600 percent rise in hate crimes targeting Muslims over the past three years an increase the organization attributes to a presidential election cycle rife with anti-Muslim animus. In a report released Tuesday called “The Empowerment of Hate,” the Council on American-Islamic Relations says it recorded over 2,200
Hate crimes are extremely relevant in the world that we live in, and it is important that everyone is aware of them and the laws regarding them. A hate crime is a criminal offense against someone because of their race, religion, ethnicity, gender, or other characteristics. It can also be referred to as bias crime because these crimes are often motivated by personal hatred (“Hate Crimes”). There have been many laws directed against hate crimes, but in 2009, the Hate Crimes Prevention Act was put in place (“Hate Crimes”). When a person commits a hate crime now, they are subjected to more critical punishments (King). Hate crimes are a major issue because they happen to completely innocent people and they need to be addressed.
Hate crimes are crimes committed by a person with a bias or negative viewpoint of a specific group of people. Hate or bias-related crimes are thought to occur for four reasons: thrill seeking, feeling threatened,