LESBIAN AND GAY: HATE CRIEMS: LITERATURE REVIEW

Lesbian and Gay-Hate Criems: Literature Review

Lesbian and Gay: Hate Criems: Literature Review

Hypothesis

Violent acts, such as those recounted overhead by Brenner, (1995 52-357), are often called hate crimes. “despise misdeeds are phrases or actions proposed to damage or threaten an individual because of her or his membership in a minority group; they encompass brutal assaults, killing, rape, and house crimes inspired by prejudice, as well as threats of aggression and other actions of intimidation” (Faulkner, 1997,p. 85). In the United States, hate crimes are committed against racial, ethnic, religious, and sexual minorities. Violent acts, such as those described above by Herek, and Kevin (1992, 25-36)), are often called hate crimes. “Hate crimes are words or actions intended to harm or intimidate an individual because of her or his membership in a minority group; they include violent assaults, murder, rape, and property crimes motivated by prejudice, as well as threats of violence and other acts of intimidation” ((Janhevich, 2001a, p. 98)In the joined States, despise crimes are pledged against racial, ethnic, devout, and sexy minorities.

Literature Review

Anumber of investigations have been conducted to realise the nature of despise crimes. These studies have focused on the characteristics of the perpetrators and the circumstances in which hate crimes occur.

The perpetrators of anti-gay/lesbian violence (and most hate crimes) are predominately male teenagers and young adults (Faulkner, 1997, 74-98)). In a survey of almost 500 community college students, Berrill, (1992, 52-58 ) found that 18 percent of the men said that they had physically assaulted or threatened someone they thought was gay or lesbian compared to 4 percent of the women. Thirty-two percent of the men and 17 percent of the women said that they were guilty of verbal harassment.

Anti-gay/lesbian violence frequently happens in groups ((Herek, and Kevin , 1992, 25-36) Groups increase violence through social contagion and deindividuation (Waldinger, 1990, 52-147)

The targets of anti-gay and lesbian attacks are often unknown to the perpetrator and chosen at random (Janhevich, 2001a, 98-247)This randomness may make it harder for the person to cope with the consequences than if he or she was a victim of some other crime. Victims may feel that there is nothing they could have done to prevent the attack, especially since they were attacked for something over which they feel they have no control and which may be a key aspect of their personal identity—their sexual orientation (Herek, and Kevin , 1992, 25-36)

Anti-gay/lesbian aggression is especially brutal. Kevin Berrill, formerly the director of the Anti-Violence Project of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF), reports that homosexual murder victims are less likely to be shot than to be “stabbed a dozen or more times, mutilated and strangled” (Faulkner, 2001b, p. 130). The controller of casualty Services at Bellevue clinic in New York town has asserted that “attacks against gay men were the most heinous and brutal I encountered. They frequently involved torture, cutting, mutilation and beating, and showed the absolute intent to rub ...