At the age of 19, the young Richard Machado was the first individual to be convicted of a federal electronic mail (email) hate crime. The reason for the conviction was a threatening hate message in 1996 to 59 Asian students at University of California at Irvine (UCI). Richard was also a student at UCI at the time. When he was asked about the emails he had sent, he said that he had sent them out in frustration, because Asians were dominating the UCI campus, and he believed that it made it less popular. Less popular due to the raising grade curve the Asians caused. He also managed to mention that he didn’t like his Asian roommate.
After Machado was identified as being responsible for the email hate crime, and after he denied any involvement he disappeared, and his roommates’ car was stolen. Machado was believed to have stolen it. Machado was caught early in 1997 trying to sneak back into the U.S. from Mexico where he had fled to. He had hoped to work and continue with life in Mexico. However when he didn’t succeed he came back and got caught by the border security.
Once trial began a recess was granted because new information came along. It appeared that not everyone was bothered by the hate email Machado has sent out and a mistrial was declared. However there was another trial, and Machado was found guilty of two counts of civil rights violations. He was sentence to one year in jail, but because he had already spent a year in jail while awaiting his trials he was free to go. He was placed on probation, fined $1000, required to attend anger and racial tolerance counseling, and he was not allowed on the UCI campus, banned to contact the victims and he also wasn’t allowed to use the computers at UCI.
What Machado di...
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...t sentence would be appropriate for a crime like this, there might be several people out there that have their opinion. Some will say that it isn’t enough, while others say that it is fine. There have been times where people have gotten a harder sentence because of their race, and that I think is unethical. However Machado got a year, maybe more time would give him more time to think about what he did wrong, but I hope he learned his lesson and understood that he did do something wrong. He didn’t physically hurt anyone, but he might have hurt these people mentally. I think that attending counseling to solve is anger issue was good and ethical.
Ethical or not, we’re not all going to agree on the same things. For some
I believe that in the end karma will do its justice. Machado is the one who has to live with what he did wrong, and he got his punishment.
The day Suarez went missing, coworkers reported an altercation between Toledo and Suarez, learning of an affair his wife was having with a coworker. He went to her place of employment to confront her. Toledo’s temper flared and he slapped Suarez in the face. Yessenia Suarez had an affair with a married coworker named Kevin Dredden (Fernandez, 2014). On the day Yessenia Suarez and her two children went missing, Kevin Dreddin was the last one to talk to her, which was at 12:49 a.m.
Ramirez was born in 1960 to his Mexican immigrant parents Julian and Mercedes Ramirez. He was the youngest out of his five siblings of 3 boys and 2 girls. He grew up in El Paso, Texas, where he had a relatively normal childhood to start off with. Even though Ramirez seemed to be on a down hill spiral, his father always maintained that Ramirez was a "good boy". At the age of 12 he started to spend a lot of time with his cousin Mike, a Vietnam veteran, his cousin would show him pictures of women he had raped and tortured during his time in Vietnam. Mike would sometime take Ramirez out to the desert at night to show him how to sneak up on animals and kill them. Ramirez was taught how to use a knife and where the vital spots were on the animals. Some believe that the turning point in Ramirez's life may have been when he witnessed his cousin murder his wife. At the time Ramirez was 13 and was smoking pot with his cousin Mike when his wife came in and allegedly started to "nag" him on getting his life together and getting a job. Mike then took out a gun and shot her in the face. The blood of Mikes wife spattered onto Ramirez. After Mikes conviction Ramirez became fascinated with the photos that Mike had showed him. From being a bright young stude...
Credibility is something that takes a lot of time to gain, but can be lost in an instance. When someone or something is credible that means they are easily trusted or believed in because of what they have done in the past. For example Nike lost some credibility when new came out they were producing their products in sweatshops across the world. However since that they have worked on that problem and gained back their credibility, but it took some time. Credibility is a great quality to have, it means you are trustworthy and people respect you. Furthermore Alex Rodriguez is another example that shows why credibility is an important quality and how cheating affects it.
economic or social success some minorities have attained may result in increased feelings of resentment by members of the larger population. As Levin & McDevitt (1993:48) argue, resentment can be found to some extent in the personality of most hate crime offenders. It may be directed toward a part...
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 ...
The term hate crime first appeared in the late 1980’s as a way of understanding a racial incident in the Howard Beach section of New York City, in which a black man was killed while attempting to evade a violent mob of white teenagers, shouting racial epithets. Although widely used by the federal government of the United States, the media, and researchers in the field, the term is somewhat misleading because it suggests incorrectly that hatred is invariably a distinguishing characteristic of this type of crime. While it is true that many hate crimes involve intense animosity toward the victim, many others do not. Conversely, many crimes involving hatred between the offender and the victim are not ‘hate crimes’ in the sense intended here. For example an assault that arises out of a dispute between two white, male co-workers who compete for a promotion might involve intense hatred, even though it is not based on any racial or religious differences... ...
Martinez went to trial in Eddy County Fifth Judicial District Court. During trial, it was revealed that one of the car present at the murder scene belonged to Martinez’s defense attorney Michael Carrasco. Not only that, the “white car” that left the crime scene was also owned by the defense counsel’s law firm. In effect, there was an apparent conflict of interest due to the defense counsel’s relationship to the
This is not to say that neo-Nazis or skinheads do not partake in criminal hate activities. By far the largest determinant of hate crimes is racial bias, with African Americans the group at greatest risk. In 1996, 60%, were promulgated because of race, with close to two-thirds (62%) targeting African Americans. Furthermore, the type of crime committed against this group has not changed much since the 19th century; it still includes bombing and vandalizing churches, burning crosses on home lawns, and murder. Ethnic minorities often become targets of hate crimes because they are perceived to be new to the country even if their families have been here for generations, or simply because they are seen as different from the mainstream population.
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.
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.
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)
According to the most recent public reports, hate crimes increased in California in 2015 by more than 10%, and hate crimes involving religious bias increased by almost 50%. This information was written in the article “Intent Shouldn’t Define Hate Crimes.” The definition of a hate crime is a crime motivated by racial, sexual, or other prejudice, typically one involving violence. Hate crimes are a serious problem and not choosing to prosecute them appropriately is not effective nor fair. This is a problem for people all over the world because hate crimes are committed very often and not always given the proper approach. On one side of the debate, critics believe that hate crime laws infringe on free
Today we have looked at the problem known as hate crimes and the varied causes which keep it in existence. We have also discussed some solutions to this act of hate.
Hate speech is often misunderstood because it can be classified as either careless or intentionally hurtful. Many people interpret careless statements as acts of aggression, but with good reason. It would be false to say that the freedom of speech has never been manipulated to inflict damage upon others. Questions have been risen of what hate speech is and if it should be allowed to be viewed by public access. Alan M. Dershowitz delivers an enumerative definition of the term by asserting all speech that criticizes another’s race, religion, gender, ethnicity, appearance, class, physical or mental capabilities, or sexual preference. However simply defining hate speech by listing out its various forms only amplifies its definition, but it fails to clarify. Vicki Chiang manages to provide a more analytical understanding of the term by listing the various forms of the act and addressing the effects upon all involved. Dershowitz’s list of hurtful instances of hate speech conveys a definition of the term as a whole, but does not cover all forms hate speech. Hate speech is any action that conveys a critical perception of an opinion which criticizes a group in a harmful manner. By addressing all forms of hate speech and considering all involved it can be concluded that though such media is often viewed as offensive, it should not be censored by a legislative body that advocates freedom of speech. In a library, one should be allowed access to the records of the past in order to prepare for the future, despite the severity of the content.
Criminal offenses against certain groups of minorities have received mixed interpretations, but regardless of the special attention these lawsuits receive, cases almost always commence without the considerations of hate. In a Colorado Springs crime a man called Geremiah Vargas and Marshall Hamilton-Parks “fag” and “faggots” before brutally stabbing them (Steiner). Motivation remains the key to prosecuting Vargas, but circumstances that have n...