Hate Crimes

HATE CRIMES LAWS AND THE JASPER, TEXAS, CASE

Crimes committed against any person are unwarranted. When the crimes are backed by racially motivated intentions, the crimes are classified as heinous and violent against the person. Hate crime laws usually have a stiffer punishment than ordinary criminal laws. The Jasper, Texas, case was a prime example of a hate crime as the evidence that was uncovered proved. There are certain things a person needs to know to fully understand what made the Jasper, Texas, case a hate crime. What is the significant difference between a regular crime and one that is classified as a hate crime? Were there any motivating factors that led up to the crime and what was the result?

What is a crime? Webster's online dictionary defines a crime as "an act or the commission of an act that is forbidden or the omission of a duty that is commanded by a public law and that makes the offender liable to punishment by that law" (Merrian np). In other words, if there is a law against something and the law is violated, there is a crime. Now for a crime to be defined as a hate crime, there are a few more elements that have to be fulfilled. Webster's online dictionary defines a hate crime as "any of various crimes (as assault or defacement of property) when motivated by hostility to the victim as a member of a group (as one based on color, creed, gender, or sexual orientation)" (Merrian np).

The main point behind a hate crime is that it has to be connected to some type of prejudice or racism. In 1996, the FBI reported that 30% of the hate crimes reported were crimes against property. These types of crimes involved robbing, vandalizing, destroying, stealing, or setting fire to vehicles, homes, stores, or places of worship. The other 70% involved an attack against a person. These offenses can range from simple assault (i.e., no weapon is involved) to aggravated assault, rape, and murder (American np). The public often associate hate crimes with skinheads and hate filled neo-Nazis. This in fact is not true. There was a study completed in Los Angeles by Dr. Edward Dunbar, a clinical psychologist at the University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Dunbar's research found that less than 5% of the hate crimes committed in 1995 were committed by members of organized hate groups. The majority of the hate crimes were committed by young offenders while under the influence of drugs and alcohol (American np).

Two questions need to be answered about the Jasper, Texas, case. Were there any motivating factors that led to the murder and what made this a hate crime versus a regular crime? The Jasper, Texas, case involved James Byrd Jr. who was beaten by three white males and then chained to the back of a pick-up truck and dragged to his death down a road. Evidence was found against two of the suspects linking them to radical hate groups like the Klu Klux Klan and the Aryan Nation, two noted white supremacy groups. The two suspects John W. King and Russell Brewer were cellmates in prison at which time they joined a gang called the Confederate Knights of America, a chapter of a small North Carolina Klan faction. While in prison they both tattooed their bodies with racist symbols.

King made plans to start his own chapter of the Klan in Jasper, Texas, once he was freed from prison. The first two recruits were Brewer and Shawn Berry, the third subject in this case (Cohen 31). When King was released from prison, he began planning the kickoff of the new group called the Texas Rebel Soldiers that was to be held on Independence Day. King had related to a fellow inmate in prison that the group would have a BBQ and a bashing on Independence Day (Cohen 32). (Bashing means the murder of a black person.) Witnesses related they received racist letters from King and investigators reported finding racist literature in both King's and Brewer's apartment (Jones 3A).

The opportunity for King and his two followers to do their bashing presented itself a couple of weeks before Independence Day. James Byrd Jr. was walking down a back road when the three suspects asked Byrd if he wanted a ride. Byrd jumped in the back of the truck and the three suspects drove Byrd to an isolated area where they beat him and then chained his ankles to the rear bumper of the truck and proceeded to drag Byrd for over three miles down the road. During this dragging, Byrd's head and upper torso were separated from his body. The three men then dropped the remainder of the body off in front of a black church (Cohen 32).

The factors leading up to this crime show a pattern of racist activity starting off with the joining of the Confederate Knights of America while in prison, then King's plan to start a new Klan chapter called the Texas Rebel Soldiers in