HATE CRIMES SHEMEKA COLLINS

HATE CRIMES

Hate crimes are not a new concept for society, because hate crimes have always been around. While the study of hate crimes and the laws that have been passed because of hate crimes is relatively new, hate crimes have always been around. Hate crimes were committed as far back as the 1800's and even back to The Civil War. Hate crimes are prevalent in society today just like they were in the past; because whether the crimes are aimed towards Muslims, the gay community, or any other minority group; they are fueled by something that every person has come into contact with- prejudice. Prejudice is defined as a preconceived thought or opinion about someone. While prejudice can be positive, in the concept of hate crimes they are negative feelings, thoughts, or opinions that are aimed towards a certain religious, ethnic, race, or even sexual orientation group. The typical definition of hate crime is that a crime has been committed by a majority member against a minority member simply because the victim was a minority. However, as of recent the definition has been expanded to allow for any crime committed by bias towards the victim's social group such as anti-gay or anti-lesbian. Hate crimes are an extreme, potential effect due to prejudice and discrimination towards someone based on ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation. These crimes are committed against an individual or a group of individuals based solely on the fact that they are part of a group that the offender doesn't approve of whether it is because they are a different race or following an alternative lifestyle. While the hate crimes are not something that is new in the society because prejudice has always been around, the concept of a bias crime and the legal precedent that it has set is relatively new. Hate crimes are just becoming more focused on in the media because of the laws that have been passed and the extreme cases that have occurred as of recent.

It is possible that individuals who are minorities are more likely to be victims of a hate crime than individuals who are not a minority. Individuals who are a minority are more likely to be the victim of a hate crime because the victims of these types of crimes are usually targeted because they are deemed to be inferior because of their status as a minority. Emmett Louis Till was an African- American teenager who was murdered in Mississippi at the age of 14 after reportedly flirting with a white woman. Three days after arriving in Money, Mississippi—on August 24, 1955—Emmett Till and a group of teenagers entered Bryant's Grocery and Meat Market to buy refreshments after a long day picking cotton in the hot afternoon sun. What exactly transpired inside the grocery store that afternoon will never be known. Till purchased bubble gum, and some of the kids with him would later report that he either whistled at, flirted with or touched the hand of the store's white female clerk and wife of the owner—Carolyn Bryant. Four days later, at approximately 2:30 a.m. on August 28, 1955, Roy Bryant, Carolyn's husband, and his half-brother J.W. Milam kidnapped Till from Moses Wright's home. They then beat the teenager brutally, dragged him to the bank of the Tallahatchie River, shot him in the head, tied him with barbed wire to a large metal fan and shoved his mutilated body into the water. Moses Wright reported Till's disappearance to the local authorities, and three days later, his corpse was pulled out of the river. Till's face was mutilated beyond recognition, and Wright only managed to identify him positively by the ring on his finger, engraved with his father's initials—"L.T." The men were tried for murder, but an all-white, male jury acquitted them. Years later on June 7, 1998 James Byrd Jr. was murdered by three men, of whom at least two were white supremacists, in Jasper Texas. Shawn Berry, Lawrence Russell Brewer, and John King dragged Byrd for three miles behind a pickup truck along an asphalt road. Byrd, who remained conscious throughout most of the ordeals, was killed when his body hit the edge of a culvert, severing his right arm and head. The murderers drove on for another mile before dumping his torso in front of an African-American cemetery in Jasper.[1] Berry was spared the death penalty and was sentenced to life in prison. Berry is currently held at the Ramsey Unit in Rosharon, Texas,[6] and his parole eligibility date is June 7, 2038.[16] As of 2003 Berry is in protective custody; he spends 23 hours per day in an 8-foot (2.4 m) by 6-foot (1.8 m) cell, with one hour for exercise. King was found guilty and sentenced to death for his role in Byrd’s kidnapping and murder.[4] King is on death row at the Polunsky Unit.[6] Brewer was ultimately convicted and sentenced to death.(19) Brewer was on death row at the Polunsky Unit.[6] Brewer was executed in the Huntsville Unit on September 21, 2011. [21] Crimes of this magnitude are committed against minorities to this day.

Individuals who are homosexual are more likely to be victims of a hate crime than individuals who are not homosexual. This could be because the offender feels like a victim is violating their sense of normalcy and what is right. An interesting aspect of homosexual bias based hate crime is that while it could be committed because they don't approve of homosexuals it could also be religion motivated because homosexuality is viewed as a sin. In Richmond, California on December 13, 2008, an openly gay 28 year-old woman was attacked and gang raped by four men, including two juveniles, on the street outside her parked car. The perpetrators took her to a second location and assaulted her again, all the while making slurs about her sexual orientation. As Shawna Virago noted, "The only way we know about (the Richmond) case is because of the bravery of the survivor coming out. Hatred and bias are a routine occurrence for many LGBT people." Two men and a teenager were charged on January 6, 2009. Thirty-one-year-old Humberto Hernandez Salvador, 21-year-old Josue Gonzalez, and 16-year-old Darrell Hodges were charged with kidnapping, carjacking, and gang rape. A 15-year-old boy was also arrested in connection with the attack.[54] Hate crime enhancements were added to charges against Salvador.[55] "What you get is this kind of immature desire to display power," said Jose Feito, a psychology professor at St. Mary's College in Moraga, California. "And so they go looking for easy victims or suitable victims." "Suitable" in the Richmond case, according to Feito, meant a victim who the perpetrators could marginalize in their minds due to her sexual orientation and gender nonconformity. "That all ties into blaming the victim, who's seen as flaunting their homosexuality."[56]

Hate crimes are a unique type of crime because of the people involved. They are a biased-based crime that is often fueled by anger geared towards a minority group. Hate crimes typically signify a unique status difference between the victim and the offender that may have consequences for public perceptions. The Hate Crime Statistics Act, which was introduced in 1985, was the first piece of federal legislation to be passed in order to bring attention to hate-motivated violence (Jenness, 1999). While most laws encompass everyone, HCSA was created to really focus in on a prevalent problem. Representative Mineta called HCSA ,”a piece of legislation that will help protect Americans from the most insidious types of crime, those that are motivated by hatred of a person merely because of their race, their religious or ethnic background (U.S Congress, 1985 as cited by Jenness,1999). Due to the fact that hate crimes are committed and motivated simply because of hatred or discrimination of a specific type of person is what makes them so unique. While most crimes could be committed against anyone, a person that is looking to commit a hate crime has to actually search for someone that fits their hatred. Victims are most often members of stigmatized minorities, while the offenders often enjoy a higher social status (Lyons, 2006). The targeted group can change due to bigger social change such as a terrorist attack or a change in legislation to protect a certain group such as homosexuals. After September 11th the stigmatization of Arab and Muslim Americans increased significantly. In 2002, the FBI reported a 1,600 percent increase in anti-Muslim hate crime offending- from 28 hate incidents in 2000 to 481 in 2001. According to New York City police, there were 117 reports of hate crimes against Muslims in that city alone between September 11, 2001 and March 2002 (Evans, 2005 as cited by Disha, Cavendish, King, 2011). Hate-motivated violence comes from many different sources, including irrational fears, misdirected anger, and pervasive bigotry. We can overcome hate over the long term through both legislation and education. We need to reinforce behaviors and attitudes that create a social atmosphere of acceptance, respect, and understanding for all people. When we work together, we can bring compassion and humanity to the community in a time of need and hopefully create a safer society for us all. We as people should be able to live our life as we pleased and not be discriminated against because g, were different.

References: [1] "3 whites indicted in dragging the death of black man in
Texas". CNN. 1998-07-06. Retrieved 2010-07-24.
[6] Keys, Perryn. "JASPER: THE ROAD BACK: Did prison time turn man into one of Byrd's killers?" Beaumont Enterprise.
June 9, 2008. Retrieved on July 23, 2010.
[4] "King, John William." Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
Retrieved on January 5, 2010.
[16] "Berry, Shawn Allen." Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
Retrieved on January 5, 2010.
[19] "Brewer, Lawrence Russell." Texas Department of Criminal
Justice. Retrieved on January 5, 2010
[21] Heather Nolan and Jessica Lipscomb (September 22,
2011). "Lawrence Russell Brewer executed in 1998 dragging death". Beaumont Enterprise. Retrieved September
22, 2011.
54. "Suspects Charged in Richmond Gang Rape of Lesbian," CBS 5, January 6, 2009.
55. "2 men, teen charged in gang rape of lesbian," USA Today, January 6, 2009.
Jenness, Valerie. 1999. “Managing Differences and Making Legislation: Social Movements and the Racialization, Sexualization, and Gendering of Federal Hate Crime Law in the U.S., 1985-1998." University of California Press on behalf of the Society for the Study of Social Problems. 46: 548-571
Lyons, Christopher J. 2006. "Stigma or Sympathy? Attributions of Fault to Hate Crime Victims and Offenders." American Sociological Association. 69:39-59
(Evans, 2005 as cited by Disha, Cavendish, King, 2011). http://en.wikipedia.org http://www.studymode.com http://thinkprogress.org http://www.civilrights.org http://transquality.org http://www.biography.com/people/emmett-till-507515