Com/156 - Hate Crimes in America

Hate Crimes in America

May 18, 2014

COM/156

Instructor Kristin Bradley

Hate Crimes in America

Knowing how the criminal justice system deals with hate crimes can be determine if the history of these crimes is explained and we learn who are now targeted by these crimes. Hate crimes has been a part of the American culture for decades. Hatred and prejudice crimes including lynching, burning crosses, synagogues vandalism, killing, and other crimes committing against a group of people because of their race, religion, handicap, sexual preference, or beliefs are consider hate crimes. This paper will explain to readers the background history of these types of crimes, different types of hate crimes committed in America, targeted victims, and provide hate crime statistics. It will also explain the affects of hate crimes and the laws designed to protect citizens from these harsh crimes.

History of Hate Crimes

Hate crimes can be defined as any type of wrong doing towards a certain group of people based on ethnics, age, sexual preference, gender, and religious belief (Shively, 2005). Hate crimes are dated back to ancient civilizations when the religious groups Christians were persecuted by the Roman Emperor in 64 AD (The Federal Bureau of Investigation, n.d.). Other hate crimes in the past that affected the entire world were that of the Nazi persecuting the Jews by the order of Adolf Hilter. There are several cases of hate crimes included in the history of the United States of America as well. Majority of the hate crimes in the American history were against people because of their race. Such crimes as intimidation, assault, vandalism, and murder were the primary crimes committed. Racial based hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, white nationalist groups, neo-Nazi groups, black separatist groups, and neo-Confederate groups were all organizations that practiced attacking or maligning an entire class of people because of their sexual orientation or race (Southern Poverty Law, 2010).

Affects of Hate Crimes

There are four elements of hate crime laws: criminality, perception, protected statuses, and intent. Hate crime laws logic is based on the debate that these crimes are designed to cause fear in large groups of people, which is a form of terrorism. Hate crimes are targeted against people who are different because of their sexual preference, ethics, race, and religious beliefs (Cheng, Ickes, &Kenworthy, 2013). Law enforcement is usually the one responsible for determining if a crime is considered a hate crime. Over the last 15 years, criminologists and sociologists have work hard at trying to understand the case of hate crimes and the issues associated with laws for these crimes (Blazak, 2011).

Targeted Victims of Hate Crimes

There was a study conducted that explored the nature of hate crimes and attacks and a response from the victims of these crimes (Barnes & Ephross, 1994). In this study there were a total of 59 victims from different ethnical backgrounds whose individual interviews, group meeting, and questionnaires gave an insight on their experience. Over half of the victims reported that they received a series of attacks instead of a single attack and because of the crime committed against them, they have develop the emotional response of fear, sadness, and anger. According to Barnes and Ephross (1994), one-third of the victims have relocated or purchased a weapon for protection.

Based on the finding from the FBI database it is determined that hate crimes varies among different groups based on the race and religious beliefs (King, Messner, & Baller, 2009). Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals have a higher rate of suicide attempts when they reside in neighborhoods with higher rate of assault against them because of their sexual preference (Duncan & Hatzenbuehler, 2014). There are antireligious hate crimes that are committed towards Muslims and Jews than other religious groups and against male homosexuals more than other sexual preference groups ("Hate Crime Laws — The ADL Approach", 2012).

Hate Crime Laws

Based on the logic of hate crime laws, it is argued that hate crimes are a form of terrorism that is used to intimidate a large group of people ("Hate Crime Laws — The ADL Approach", 2012). The first American law designed to protect citizens from hate crimes was the Federal Civil Rights law of 1964. This law gave people the right to attend school, apply for jobs, participate in public activities, vote, serve as a juror, and use the same facilities. Any person who interfered, intimidated, or cause injury to a person who engaged in the named activities because of his or her race, religion, or national origin was committing a hate crime (Shively, 2005). The creation of hate crime laws in the United States had to deal with issues of people thinking that the laws violates “Freedom of Speech” and the laws harm society more than helping (Blazak, 2011).

In 1994, one of the largest crime bills in the United States history was sent to the United States Sentencing Commission. The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act required that violators of hate crimes receive greater penalties when convicted of a hate crime. This act increased the penalties for hate crime but because it did not eliminate the restrictions of the Federal Civil Rights Law of 1964 stating that a person must be engaged in a federal protected activity to be violated of a hate crime (Legal Information Institute, n.d.).

Three years after the enactment of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, there were an incident that caused the death of Matthew Shepard, a homosexual college student who was beaten, tied to a fence, and left to die (The Nation's Premier Civil & Human Rights Coalition, 2014). In this same year there was also the incident that caused the death of James Byrd Jr., an African American male who was beaten, chained by his ankle to a pickup truck, and drugged by three white men (The Nation's Premier Civil & Human Rights Coalition, 2014). It was 11 years after Shepard and Byrd deaths that President Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. Because of this act, hate crimes currently existing in the United States now includes crimes motivated by victims’