Penalties on Hate Crimes

    There are many people that believe there should be harsher penalties for hate crimes.  Others believe that what our legal system does serve justice to the victims of hate crimes.  For instance the beating of Rodney King could be semi viewed as a hate crime when he was brutally beat by four police officers and received a settlement of 1 million dollars in the early 1990s. There are many horrendous cases that the public hear everyday about individual hate crimes done on other human beings. For example: "After being robbed and beaten, Matthew Shepard, a gay student in Wyoming, was tied like a scarecrow to a wooden fence and left to die. He did" (Wellman, 2006, p.62).  These stories that are published in our newspaper each day really makes me want to reevaluate if America has truly grown out of its era of intolerance.
           What most people do not know is that their are strict guidelines on what qualifies as a hate crime. "In order for an offense to qualify as a hate crime, the perpetrator must choose the victim (at least in part) because of her membership in the targeted group" (Wellman, 2006, p.63).  It has to clearly show that the crime was done out of hate for the other individual.  This is where in the courtroom the situation can get sticky when you try to charge the perpetrator with a hate crime.  The overall public, however, want their to be more done for the punishment of specific crimes.  "Although national polls that have been conducted in recent years uncovered general support for hate crime laws, there is no evidence that this support translates into support for the actual sentence enhancements,mandatory minimums, and others tools that are mandated under such laws" (Cohen & Steen,2004,p.1-2).  If the overall public is demanding more attention be brought to this maybe if some people voice their opinions the government will listen.
           There is many complexities over the hate.  Should the individual be blamed if he has prejudice against somebody or should it be more geared towards the actual organizations geared towards hate.  "Individuals who commit hate crimes often appear to have internalized scapegoating frames and narratives, but seldom are they members of organized supremacist groups" (Berlet,2003-2004,p.145).  This is true, but most of the time the individuals are brought up from someone that teaches them that hatred and those individuals could belong to supremacist groups, so they are indirectly affected.  "

We need to place the study of organized hate groups in the context of the larger study of systems of oppression that generate hate" (Berlet,2003-2004,p.145).  I agree with this statement, but overall there needs to be more looked into with the consequences of committing hate crimes, rather than us Americans trying to cease that they no longer exist. 

References:

Wellman, C. (2006). A defense of stiffer penalties for hate crimes . Hypatia, 21(1), 62-63.


Cohen, M, & Steen, S. (2004). Assessing the public's demand for hate crime penalties. Justice Quarterly, 21(1), 1-2.


Berlet, C. (2003-2004). Hate, oppression, repression, and the apocalyptic style: facing complex questions and challenges . Journal of Hate Studies, 3(1), 145.

Views on Hate Crimes

   When most people hear the word hate crime they automatically assume that it is involving something physical, but verbal usage.  This is just one of the many different views that America has on hate crimes.  For instance usage of  the "N" word in our culture.  For African American the "N" word is used frequently among African Americans, because they feel that they are not using it in a derogatory way unlike Whites who ultimately use it in a racial backlash context.  "Since 2002, Randall Kennedy has served as an expert witness about the use of the N-word in approximately a half-dozen court cases" (Jones & Parks, 2008,1312).  This,however, is not enough to charge someone with a hate crime.  This side of hate crimes is still being pursued to see if legal actions should be taken.
     Some people actually believe that people involved in hate crimes should be administrated harder punishments if they already have prejudice for the victim of the crime, because they had two intentions to gain something out of the crime and to exploit the other person.  "I contend that the enhanced punishment of opportunistic

bias crimes is justified because tbe advantages tbat perpetrators obtain by

committing tbem are greater tban the advantages obtained from parallel crimes commited without bias motivation" (Woods,2008,p.491-492).  I found this statement quite interesting, because I never had taken account of how this could be very justifiying to the victim of a violent hate crime.  "In terms of harmful effects, I contend that opportunistic bias crimes warrant additional punishment because such crimes

perpetuate the belief that certain victims are easier crime targets as a result of

disadvantages stemming from their group membership" (Woods,2008,p.492).  This statement could also very much be true, because they may act on a certain individual, because they are more vulnerable.
       Not many people would agree with that reasoning of thinking, but it is definitely being put into perspective.  There has even been questioning on trying to adapt hate crimes, so that they do not violate citizens First Amendment rights.  "First Amendment concerns are implicatedwhenever police and prosecutors seek to use evidence of perpetrators' speech, expressive actions, or membership in organizations to prove the requisite animus" (Coker,2011,p.275).  I can see how this could cause some backlash,because you have to fair to everyone within a trial even the commiters of the crime. However, "Not only are hate crimesmore likely to involve physical assaults and result in serious physical injury to the victim, but their emotional and psychological impact on victims is also more severe, as such crimes attack the "core of
[victims'] identity." (Coker,2011,p.275).  This is a aspect of hate crime that many people feel to leave out is the emotional toll that is put on the victim.  Hopefully this is more looked into as hate crimes prevalence and severity becomes more aware.


































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































References:


Jones, S, & Parks, G. (2008). "nigger" a critical race realist analysis of the n-word within hate crimes. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 98(4), 1312.

Woods, J. (2008). Taking the "hate" out of the hate crimes:applying unfair advantage theory to justify the enhanced punishment of opportunistic bias crimes. UCLA Law Review, 56(2), 491-492

Coker, C. (2011). Hope-fulfilling or effectively chilling? reconciling the hate crimes prevention act with the first amendment. Vanderbilt Law Review, 64(1), 275.

9/11 Hate Crimes

     Since September 11,2001 a lot of Americans have been very skeptical about, who we let enter this country.  When the Twin Towers got attacked our country immediately went to hating the enemy in the Middle East.  Many Americans claimed that anybody of Middle Eastern descent could be a potential terrorist and they were definitely not afraid to show their hatred to them.  There was a sharp rise in hate crimes towards Middle-Easterns.
      There was defintely an increase in hate crimes targeted to people of Islamic faith post 9/11. "The FBI report found that incidents targeting people, institutions and businesses identified with the Islamic faith increased from a mere 28 in 2000 to 481 in 2001-a rise of 1,600 percent" (Abdelkarim,2003,p.51).  This obviously, because after the attack Americans felt threatened and pretty much were ignorant about the whole Islamic faith as a result of this hate escalated.
      Americans took it in their own hands to deliver what they felt was right.  Many feel that not enough was done post 9/11 for the tragedy that the country suffered.  The Hussein family had indured hate ever since the 1990s in their neighborhood with property damage being done to their house and this only escalated after September 11.  The Hussein family even went public with their outcry "By midday, TV stations and The Washington Post came to record the story of this Muslim family who has been victimized even before backlash from 9/11 made many Muslim Americans feel unsafe" (Hanley, 2007,p.53).  Even Muslims who were US citizens were being targeted just simply, because they belonged to a certain faith they were automatically associated with the terrorists of 9/11.
       Even as the story of 9/11 is being added into textbooks we are failing to leave out the mistreatment of Muslim-Amercians that occured heavily at this time. " No incidents of harassment or hate crimes against Middle Easterners and other "Middle Eastern- looking" people that were reported in the aftermath of 9/11 are mentioned, nor are bomb threats at a Muslim school in Detroit, the three hundred protesters who stormed a Chicago-area mosque, or the singling out of Arab Americans in airports" (Romanowski,2009,p.290).  These voices are being forgotten and it is sad, because they are just as much a apart of history.  It has been 10 years since September 11,2001 and although the hatred towards Muslims have died down it is still prevalant and many Americans still feel animosity towards them for what happened on that tragic day.


     


































References:


Abdelkarim, R. (2003). Surge in hate crimes followed by official u.s. targeting of muslim, arab men. The Washington Report on Middle Eastern Affairs, 22(3), 51-53.

Hanley, D. (2007). Muslim family endures hate crime again. The Washington Report on Middle Eastern Affairs, 26(8), 53.

 Romanowski, M. (2009). What you dont know can hurt you: textbook omissions and 9/11. The Clearing House, 82(6), 290-296.

Asian-American Hate Crimes

   In the U.S. alone we have a lot of Asian-Americans living among us.  Asian-Americans are definitely more now in this country than ever before. "According to the 2000 census, over 12 million Asian Americans, almost 70 percent of them either immigrants who came to the U.S. after 1970 or their children, comprised an ethnically and socioeconomically diverse population that was more regionally dispersed throughout the U.S. than ever before" (Kim,2007,p.75).  With this being stated we know that lot of Asian-Americans live among the U.S. in various communities.  Also Asian-Americans seem to be doing pretty well for themselves in this country.
        However, when the World War II broke out there was a lot of hatred towards Asian-Americans for various reasons, but with this being said even though times have changed their still is some animousity felt towards Asian-Americans. "A legal defense fund representing Asian Americans also is asking for a federal probe of alleged hate crimes in the State University of New York system." (Dervarics,2000,p.7).  There is very little known about Asian-Americans hate crimes, because it is not talked about as often as other ethnic groups, but they still recieve hatred.
     Asian-Americans are very hard-working and truly make themselves successful when they come to the U.S. or if they have already been brought up here they want to achieve the American dream.  More and more Asian-Americans are coming to the U.S. and even our neighboring country Canada and they are no longer residing in their own communities i.e. chinatowns.  As a result of this "case of hate crimes directed at Asian-Americans in a largely Jewish neighbourhood with a growing Asian-American immigrant population" (Bangarth,Hall,Hwang, 2001,p.176).  North America in general needs to be more opening of intermixing our people and not stay ignorant and keep repeating history by remaining intolerant



References:

Dervarics, C. (2000). Congress takes on hate crimes. Diverse Issues in Higher Education, 17(11), 7.

Kim, Barbara. (2007). The ties that bind: asian american communities without "ethnic spaces" in southeast michigan. Ethnic Studies Review, 30(1/2), 75.

Bangarth, S, Hall, P, & Hwang, V. (2001). Anti-asian violence in north america: asian american and asian canadian reflections on hate, healing and resistance. Canadian Ethnic Studies, 33(2), 176-177

Native-American Hate Crimes

    Native-Americans are the group that does not get showcased when it comes to hate crimes, but it does in deed happen to them.  Native-Americans have been in this country long before Europeans even touched down and ventured the new land.  They also do well off for themselves as a people especially with their modern success of casions which ventures in a lot of money.  This could be make them a target for hate, because of their prosperity that people assume they have. Native Americans discrimination occured at its severity back from when the Europeans came to the Americas up the 1970s.  There is a book that outlines the hate on Native-Americans called Silent Crimes: Hate crimes agaisnt Native-Americans  "One instance is the section on forced steralization of Native Women, which is not common knowledge for many readers" (Johnson-Jennings,2009,p.414).  I surely did not know this and it is sad that they would restrict Native-American women to have children.
     There has even been evidence that Native-Americans have been targeted the most for hate crimes. "Crimes of hate against American Indians totaled 75 incidents in the nation during 2007, said a Federal Bureau of Investigation report" (Ruckman,2008,p.2).  That is a high number of incidents and some believe it to be, because of Native-Americans "high-style" life that many assume that they have.  This was said by Brenda Golden, an Indian Activist: "'People think we get all these benefits when don't," she said. "And they also associate us with the past...that we killed white people indiscriminately when we were fighting for our land'"(Ruckman,2008,p.2).  This could result from many people in America thinking that Native-Americans get huge reparations for territory taken away from them many years ago.
       It is, because people are ignorant and think that they know a certain people's situation and know far from it.  Luckily there is being some progress made from the Government to reduce hate crimes directed towards Native-Americans. "The new initiative would provide a minimum of $100 million, over current funding levels, for activities which reduce violence and hate crimes against American Indians and incidents of those crimes on tribal lands. These grants could be used for counseling and social work services relating to tribal courts or prosecutors and programs to reduce hate crimes"(Stocks,2001,p.A1).  This is big step in the right direction, because it shows that America is trying to make an effort in helping out the Native-Americans which at times feel neglected.


References:


Stockes, B. (2001 , April 18). Hate crime legislation introduced: grants would target indian country. Indian Country Today, p. A1

Ruckman, S.E. (2008, November 14). Fbi hate crime report shows indians remain most often assaulted. Native American Times, p. 2.

Johnson-Jennings, M. (2009). Silent victims: hate crimes agaisnt native americans. American Indian Quarterly, 33(3), 414-416.
     

Hate Crime Effects and Overcoming

    Hate crimes can have tremendous effects and the level of severity can be different.  The world can witness this with things such as the Holocaust and the Rwanda genocides.  These two examples are very extreme and the hate crimes commited in the U.S. are by far not that extreme.  Hate crimes, nonetheless, are bad and can have negative affects in our community.
   America has a form of extremism entering into the country.  Extremism by definition is a tendency to go to extremes.  "This is not about freedom of speech. This is about hatred in one of its "worst forms. In fact, rightwing extremism is so prevalent and extensive today that it may appear to some to be just a natural backlash to the progress that has been accomplished during the last 50 years toward a more just and equitable society" (Chavis,2011,p.19).  Especially when it comes to the acceptance of Gays in this country that have been coming out rampidly, because of the way our society is.
     Even in our country today there needs to be more acceptance of people that are different from us.  We are all individuals not one person is the same.  When we learn to accept people it brings society together, but first the acceptance of different people comes within the household, which is where we base our morals and values in life from.  The youth are very influencable and easily swayed in their opinions on life. In the article titled Honoring Differences and Fighting Hate it states: "hate seems to be happening spontaneously among kids who feel it's OK to terrorize and assault people"(Holman,2005,p.33).  This is a not a good thing by any means and it is saddening that even young children can stir up so much hatred, tolerance needs to be instilled when you are young for accepting people of any culture.
     There needs to be a reduction in hate crimes in our society.  "Every day 8 Blacks, 3 Whites, 3 homosexuals, 3 Jews and one Hispanic person become victims of a hate crime, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center" (R.A.,2005,p.5). This is very upsetting and needs to change.  Our country has come to far to resort back to its old ways of true racisim. 

References:
R., A. (2005, Jan/Feb). Reducing violence in our society. Skipping Stones, 17(1), 5.
Holman, S. (2005, Jan/Feb). Honoring differences and fighting hate. Skipping Stones, 17(1), 33-34.
Chavis, B. (2011, January 20-26). Violent rightwing extremism continues in america. Washington Informer, pp. 19,34.

Beliefs on Hate Crimes

    Hate crimes have different charges for their crimes.  Awhile ago hate crimes were not even a category in the justice system.  There is a lot of belief that there should not be charges for hate crimes.  As a whole whites commit most of the hate crimes and blacks are the minority target. "But blacks do commit hate crimes, and as it turns out are committing lots more of them than generally known. According to the 2004 FBI Hate Crimes report, blacks committed slightly more than 20 percent of the hate crimes in America" (Hutchinson,2006,p.8).  This could be due to the fact that blacks still at times feel oppressed as a people in America.
      I do not condone any violence, but when people feel threatened they will act violent out of rage.  There used to be light always heavily shedded on antisemitism crimes, but however the FBI notices that that is not on the rise.  "Greg Smith, a senior researcher at the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, said recent polls show that many Americans view Judaism as being close to their own faith, an indicator of a favorable approach toward Jews. "We haven't picked up any backlash against Jews in our polling in recent years," Smith said" (Guttman,2009,p.1).  I believe that as we enter the future years we are going to see more hate crimes on people with gender issues since that is coming more the rise of people being open about their identities.
     Hate crimes have grabbed the attention of America and some feel there needs to be stricter consequences for committing such crimes.  "Overall, the Federal Bureau of Investigation reported nearly 8,000 hate crimes in 1998, including more than half that were motivated by racial bias. This rate is higher than annual averages during the past 12 years. By comparison, national data showed an average of 5,000 hate crimes a year" (Dervarics,2000,p.7). Hopefully with acts like the Hate Crimes Prevention Act that was enacted will make people think twice about committing such hanous crimes and bring some tolerance to our country.


References:


Guttman, N. (2009). What's behind the fbi's hate crime report?. Federal Bureau of Investigation--FBI, 113(31786), 1. 　
Dervarics, C. (2000). Congress takes on hate crimes. Diverse Issues in Higher Education, 17(11), 7.