Hate Crimes: Criminal Profile, Causes, Victims, and Minimization
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- Date Submitted: 08/16/2013 11:46 AM
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Abstract
Discrimination and hate crimes are nothing new. The Civil Rights Act of 1968 enacted the Federally Protected Activities Law in 1969, allowing the federal prosecution of any person or persons, who because another's race, color, religion or national origin, while participating in a federally protected activity, such as voting or going to school, willfully injures or attempts to injure, intimidates or attempts to intimidate or interfere with them(18 USC § 245, n.d.). In 1994 the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act was passed where in Section 280003(a) a hate crime is defined where a person intentionally selects a victim, or a property crime, to commit a crime because of race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, gender, disability, sexual orientation, or homeless status of the victim (28 USC § 994, 1994). The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, was signed by President Obama on October 28, 2009 as a rider to the National Defense Authorization Act for 2010 (H.R. 2647) as a result to the murders of Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr., expanding the 1969 United States federal hate-crime law to include crimes motivated by a victim's race, sexual orientation, gender identity, actual or perceived gender, or disability (Weiner, 2010). As we can see, hate crimes are felonies but they are still committed every day, and sociologists continue to study what drives individuals to commit such crimes and find a way to minimize them.
Hate Crimes: Criminal Profile, Causes, Victims, and Minimization
We read about them in the newspapers and we hear about them in the six o'clock news - a young gay man was attacked as he left a night club, or a Latino male was beaten up while waiting on a corner. These unfortunate events are classified as 'hate crimes' and they can occur anywhere within our local communities or anywhere in the world. These hate crimes are the product of a lack of knowledge and understanding of the...
Discrimination and hate crimes are nothing new. The Civil Rights Act of 1968 enacted the Federally Protected Activities Law in 1969, allowing the federal prosecution of any person or persons, who because another's race, color, religion or national origin, while participating in a federally protected activity, such as voting or going to school, willfully injures or attempts to injure, intimidates or attempts to intimidate or interfere with them(18 USC § 245, n.d.). In 1994 the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act was passed where in Section 280003(a) a hate crime is defined where a person intentionally selects a victim, or a property crime, to commit a crime because of race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, gender, disability, sexual orientation, or homeless status of the victim (28 USC § 994, 1994). The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, was signed by President Obama on October 28, 2009 as a rider to the National Defense Authorization Act for 2010 (H.R. 2647) as a result to the murders of Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr., expanding the 1969 United States federal hate-crime law to include crimes motivated by a victim's race, sexual orientation, gender identity, actual or perceived gender, or disability (Weiner, 2010). As we can see, hate crimes are felonies but they are still committed every day, and sociologists continue to study what drives individuals to commit such crimes and find a way to minimize them.
Hate Crimes: Criminal Profile, Causes, Victims, and Minimization
We read about them in the newspapers and we hear about them in the six o'clock news - a young gay man was attacked as he left a night club, or a Latino male was beaten up while waiting on a corner. These unfortunate events are classified as 'hate crimes' and they can occur anywhere within our local communities or anywhere in the world. These hate crimes are the product of a lack of knowledge and understanding of the...