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Is hate crime legislation effective
Causes and effects of racial and ethnic based hate crimes
Papers on hate crime in the united states
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Jessica Serrano December 11, 2013 Hate Crimes A hate crime is a traditional offense like murder, arson, or vandalism with an added element of bias. For the purposes of collecting statistics, Congress has defined a hate crime as a criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offenders bias against a race, religion, disability, ethnic origin or sexual orientation. Crimes of hatetranscend their immediate victims and cast a shadow of fear and terror throughout entire communities. In 1999, the Hate Crimes Prevention Act was introduced to expand the federal scope of Jurisdiction to all crimes deemed motivated by hate. The Hate Crimes Prevention Act expanded the categories of protected persons to include those who were targeted because of sexual orientation, gender, or disability. By the year 2000, 42 states had enacted some form of hate crime legislation, in some cases making bias motivated violence a basis for penalty enhancements. Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 1999 sought to remove the stringent requirements that federal prosecutors must meet in order to prove the occurrence of a hate crime. Under the previous law, prosecutors needed to show that a crime occurred both because the victim was a member of a protected group, such as those identified by race, color, religion, or national origin, and because the victim was engaged in specifically named, federally protected activities such as serving on a jury, voting, or attending public school. 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 . N.p.. Web. 12 Dec 2013. . . N.p.. Web. 12 Dec 2013. . . N.p.. Web. 12 Dec 2013. . Healey, J. F. . Race, ethnicity, gender, and class: The sociology of group conflict and change. Sage Publications, print. . N.p.. Web. 12 Dec 2013. .
Winant, Howard. 2000 "Race and race theory." Annual review of sociology ():-. Retrieved from http://www.soc.ucsb.edu/faculty/winant/Race_and_Race_Theory.html on Mar 17, 1980
Schaefer, R. (Ed.). (2012). Racial and ethnic groups. (13th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.
Schaefer, Richard, T. Racial and Ethnic Groups. 12th ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2010. Print.
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
Hate crimes are done too frequently in the United States. Although we have laws that supposedly regulate them, many people still feel the need to commit acts of violence on people that are different than them. Many of these crimes originate with some sort of hate speech. People get ideas from other people, passed down from previous generations.
In conclusion, Heidi Hurd did a passable job in explaining both parts of the discussion. Based on her article I have come to the conclusion that this is a topic not easily solved. With every argument that the people in favor of hate crime legislation those against are able to oppose it with their own. It is simple not possible to generalize case because although they may be similar they are never the same. Discrimination, hate, and prejudice has always been and will continue to be a topic discussed for many years.
With the increase in hate crimes in America, minority groups are starting to become the prey of the beasts who commit these awful crimes. So the minority groups (Asians, African Americans, Jewish people, Homosexuals, and others) have been pushing to have hate crime laws passed to protect them from violence and ridicule. The laws that are in affect now are only slightly protective of the minorities in hate crimes. The laws that are in state right now say that a hate crime offender can only be prosocuted for their crimes if they are prohibiting the minority or victum of the hate crime from a “federally protected right”. Such as attending school, voting and etc. The victums of hate crimes do not think that these laws are very strict. The victoms are demanding newer stricter laws. The victoms or minorities want these newer stricter laws because basically they have no protection from violence. The old laws basically just state that if you are prohibiting the person from doing something you are at fault. Well the minorities want these stiffened and they want them to be harsher. An example of what the minorities want is any act done against anyone with intent to cause bodily harm or death because the person was part of a minority group will carry the fine of being federally prosecuted and with that there is the chance of the death penalty.
The punishment of a crime should not be determined by the motivation for the crime, yet that is exactly what hate crime legislation does. It places emphasis on a crime for the wrong reasons. Hate crimes victimize more than just the victims, and this is why the punishments are more severe, but Sullivan argues that any crime victimizes more than the victims. He suggests that random crimes with no prejudice in place can be perceived as something even more frightening, as the entire community feels threatened instead of just a group. Proven in Sullivan’s article is the worthlessness of the “hate” label. I would agree that it only serves to further discriminate, instead of achieving the peace and equality that it pretends to stand
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. Once it has been reviled that an accused willfully committed an offense, proof must be given that indicates the crime was influenced by prejudice against a specific characteristic in order to show that it was also a hate crime. When this can be proven, the harshness of the crime automatically increases. People often wonder why hate crime punishment is harsher than for crimes that are not motivated by any type of bias. The basic reason for this is that most crimes are directed at an individual, but hate crimes are against an entire community. A burglar who breaks into a random home does so for personal gain, and usually doesn’t even know who lives in the home they are invading. Conversely, a person who chooses a victim based on a particular bias is singling out a ch...
...ce about committing a crime. But lawmakers failed to see that this is the point of any law. Look at how much crime this country has. That is part of the reason why many states reinstated the death penalty—because people were supposed to think twice about committing crimes. Obviously, these laws are not doing their job. The government reported 97 executions this year alone, up from 68 in 1998 and 74 executions in 1997 (Johnson 1). Officials should rethink their strategies. If laws already exist for a certain crime, regardless of whether or not it is a hate crime, then those laws should be used. Laws should not be changed to fit individual situations.
King, Ryan D., Steven. F Messner, Robert D. Baller. 2009. “Contemporary Hate Crimes, Law Enforcement and the Legacy of Racial Violence.” American Sociological Association. 74: 291-315.
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.
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.
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 for centuries, racial discrimination was rampant in the 19th and 20th century, but mostly in the south; many segregation laws were created at the time ‘’that banned African Americans from voting, attending certain schools, and using public accommodations. ’’ (Hate Crime Laws, 2014)
Hate speech is a difficult nuance of today’s society, being that it has many nuances of its’ own. The term “hate speech” has an extremely “grey area” adjacent to it because of the fact that it is so ambiguous; it is not easily definable. There are many factors contributing to the definitive understanding of hate speech: what exactly does it entail, who is affected, how does it differ from hateful speech, and what does the First Amendment have to say about it? Regardless of how nebulous it may be, there is without a doubt a need for understanding as there are numerous cases of hate speech inflicting hurt on those affected.