There was a study done in 1999 that showed almost 67 of reported incidents were the acts against an individual. These crimes usually included intimidation, simple assault, and aggravated assault. In addition, 50 percent of hate crimes were committed on race, 18 percent on religion, 17 percent on sexual orientation, 11 percent on ethic origin, and less than 1 half percent on disability and other multiple reasons.
The most common types of hate incidents are usually racial slurs and graffiti, which are more than twice likely to occur than physical violence or destruction of property. African American and Hispanic students were shown to be the most likely victims. As far as perpetuators of these crimes, most experts believe that they are often affiliated with hate groups or gangs involved in hate groups. Most hate crimes are usually committed by teenagers and adults under the age of 25. These are usually males. In 1998, 69 percent of the offenders were white, and 16 percent were black.
According to the Intelligence Project of the Southern Poverty Law Center, 602 hate groups were active in the United States in 2000. Some of these hate groups included Ku Klux Klan, Neo-Nazi, Skinhead, Black Separatist and more. Many studies say that the typical individual who commits a hate crime is usually a white male involved in some sort of hate group abusing drugs. They also say that many males who may have been molested as a child are more likely to commit hate crimes. As we see in other parts of the world such as Israel many hate crimes are being committed by people involved in religious groups.
The ongoing trend of hate crime continues to be a challenge. I believe that this type of behavior starts way before the people become adults. I feel that your surroundings have a lot to do with your views on things. I think that people should be educated on these types of things at a young age. I don’t think there will be too much change in the acts of these types of crimes unless the individual wants to make a change and begins accepting everyone regardless of race, creed, religion etc. There are also many underlying reasons of why people commit senseless acts of violence. They too need to seek help for their problems so that all of that inner turmoil won’t be outwardly directed.
Our society is truly a melting pot of various people with different ideas, religions, cultures, races and many unique attributes that makes for a very dynamic society. Some believe that this very diversity is what makes the U.S. great, some believe the opposite. What is true is that this diversity creates many challenges and often great conflict. As result over time laws have been enacted to discourage unreasonable behaviors. California has enacted not only anti discrimination laws, but also hate crime laws. Other others states have done likewise.
During the last few years there has also been a very strong anti immigrant sentiment that often leads to not only discrimination against individuals because of their perceived ethnicity or nationality, but often the strong anti-immigrant sentiment leads to crimes perpetrated against these individuals. These types of crimes are considered to be of a greater magnitude and the punishment is much more severe than punishment for other crimes. Essentially a crime becomes more severe when the victim is a member of protected class. These types of crimes are classified as hate crimes.
A hate crime is defined as a criminal act that is committed because of the perpetrators perceived characteristics in the victim, when the perceived characteristics are from one of the following categories: (1) disability, (2) gender, (3) nationality, (4) race or ethnicity, (5) religion, (6) sexual orientation or association with any person or group that any one of these characteristics. It is also a hate crime when the act involves damaging property or using force or threats of violence to interfere with someone else's rights because of the perceived characteristics. It does not matter if the victim actually has the perceived characteristics or not. After 911 for example anyone that dressed in an unusual manner was a target for acts of violence. This included not only Arabs, but also Indians and just about anyone that wears religious attire commonly associated with Muslims. An act of violence perpetrated against someone that is a Muslim is not a hate crime in itself, but perpetrating a crime against a Muslim on the grounds that the person is a Muslim would be a hate crime.
Hate crimes include physical assault, attempted physical assault, and the threat of assault. Crimes motivated by the bias towards a member of the protected class are also considered hate crimes.
Threatening violence and including specific terms that identify the person as a member of the protected class would be sufficient to constitute a hate crime.
The civil penalty for hate crimes may be as much as $25,000 in addition to other personal injury remedies. The perpetrator of a hate crime can be jailed and fined. If the crime is a felony the judge has the discretion to add an additional 2 year sentence to the jail term. The court also has the power to order restitution for actual damages and losses including medical bills.
The victim does not have to let the acts escalate to the point of actual physical harm and has the right to request a restraining order, once there have been threats of injury or property damage that is motivated by the perpetrators bias. The victim does not have to be a member of the protected class for the crime to occur. The perpetrator only has to perceive that the victim is a member of the protected class. If the perpetrator yells slurs of homosexuality to the victim because the perpetrator perceives the victim to be homosexual, but in fact the victim is not homosexual the crime has taken place.
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