Hate Crime

Ethnicity and Hate Crimes

Ethnicity and Hate Crimes

Introduction

Over the past several decades, advocacy groups and lawmakers have begun to recognize the form of victimization known as hate crime. Hate crime consists of crimes motivated by bias against an individual's real or perceived race, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation, and these crimes are addressed through various forms of state and federal legislation. Although such violence had been perpetrated throughout history, it was not until inroads were made by victim advocacy groups that these crimes began to be known collectively as hate or bias crime (Takaki, 1993).

Discussion and Analysis

During the 1980s, various states adopted hate crime legislation, and in 1990 the Hate Crimes Statistics Act (HCSA) was passed by Congress and signed into law. This act mandated the collection and dissemination of hate crime data by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Nearly every state has some form of hate crime legislation, and currently federal legislation is pending in Congress that would expand the status provisions of crimes “motivated by prejudice based on the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin” to include “gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability of the victim.” Further, the bill offers additional federal funding for prevention and law enforcement response to hate crimes.

Proponents of hate crime legislation argue that hate crimes cause more harm than non-hate-motivated crimes, and that as a result punishment should be more severe for hate crime offenders. Scholars have made the argument that hate crimes harm not only the victim, but the victim's entire group, as well as the larger community. On its Web site, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force states that “hate crimes send a message of terror to an entire group and are therefore unlike a random act of violence.” An attack or property crime directed toward one individual ultimately impacts all those who identify with the victim. Proponents contend that the implementation of hate crime legislation reinforces society's moral values by promoting tolerance and sending a message that hate-motivated violence is unacceptable (Hendricks, 2007).

The extent of hate crime victimization is relatively difficult to gauge because hate crimes are believed to be underreported. According to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, in 2007 there were 7,160 hate crime incidents. However, the UCR Program only includes those incidents that were reported to police. In 2000, the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) began incorporating questions regarding hate crime victimizations into its survey. According to a Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) Special Report containing NCVS and UCR Program data collected from mid-2000 through December 2003, hate crime incidents reach an annual average of approximately 191,000. Globally, according to a 2008 report released by the Human Rights First organization, hate crimes have increased in several of the 56 countries it surveys, including France, Germany, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Sweden, the Slovak Republic, and the United States.

According to the UCR Program, hate crimes are most frequently crimes against persons as opposed to property crimes. The most frequent personal offenses include intimidation, harassment, ...