Hate Crimes: Are They Ignored?

Hate crimes are perhaps one of the most egregious categories of crimes that offenders in today’s society can commit. The crimes are motivated by bias against a particular gender, race, religion, or nationality. More important, the crimes are committed as a direct attack against the person of that particular category and not only strike the victim, but the entire community as well.

Hate crimes are labelled as so when they are committed against the victim simply because that person is included in that particular demographic. If a person is killed because they are Muslim, or homosexual, then that is a hate crime. If a person is assaulted because they are against a particular group of people then that is a hate crime.

Hate crimes are especially prevalent during times when national debates or topics are being discussed or covered. For example, hate crimes are heightened during presidential elections. Statistics indicate that during 2015, hate crimes were higher than they had been for the previous couple of years. It is believed that this was due largely in part because of the presidential election. 

According to FBI director James Comey, “Hate crimes are different from other crimes. They strike at the heart of one’s identity. They strike at our sense of self, our sense of belonging. The end result is loss of trust, loss of dignity and, in the worst case, loss of life.”

The Civil Rights Act of 1968 was the first law that addressed hate crimes. The law provided protection to members of protected classes based upon their status as members of a certain race, religion, or national origin. This act was not inclusive of gender, sexual orientation, or disabilities. Those classes would not be addressed until 2009. 

One interesting aspect of hate crimes is that offenders can have other motivations besides hate. Loyalty to a particular group of people, or attempts to interfere in certain events could be classified as a hate crime. Gang membership can attribute to someone committing a hate crime against a member of another gang or against someone that has no affiliation whatsoever. Though this crime is still inspired by hate, to a certain degree, is also is attributed to the offender’s membership in the particular gang. 

One problem with reporting hate crimes is that they are often underreported by law enforcement agencies across the nation. Many agencies have an automatic requirement of crimes being reported as non-bias. This places a great strain on how severe hate crimes really are throughout the country. Because of this automatic requirement, many crimes that could be classified as hate crimes are not reported or completely ignored. Most of the time, this is labelled as being due to a lack of evidence to classify the crime as a hate crime.

In recent years, hate crimes have received a revivification of their relevance to society and the manner in which they are reported by police. In years past, many people have simply stated that they do not feel comfortable reporting hate crimes to police simply because they do not feel comfortable with the police. In a society where homophobia is present, especially in conservative states such as the southeastern region of the United States, it is almost impossible to persuade society to believe that crimes can be motivated by discrimination.

From a personal standpoint, I believe that law enforcement officers should thoroughly analyze crimes when a victim of a crime states that they believe someone assaulted them or harassed them because they are a member of a certain group of people. It would be so much easier to combat this problem if police were able to have neutral feelings pertaining to members of protected classes. Unfortunately, some officers have underlying discriminatory opinions of certain groups and that is sometimes the reasoning behind the lack of reported hate crimes.

Let me know what you think about hate crimes and how they should be handled. As always, feel free to like, share, and comment. 

Sources:

CNN