Hate Crimes
Policy Problems
created by:
Tony Dominguez
Chris Hagan
David Lee
Jason Wegman
Nate Kutcher
CLICK
HERE TO GO TO PICTURE
Congressdefines
hate crime as "a crime in which the defendant
intentionally selects a victim, or in the case of a property that is the
object of the crime, because of the actual or perceived race, color,
national origin, ethnicity, gender, disability, or sexual orientation of
any person ."
Section 28003(a) of the Violent Crime Control
and Law Enforcement Act of 1994928 U.S.C.
994 note)
Throughout our research of policy problems in hate
crimes we found that is is very difficult to distinguish a hate crime.
As you can see in the above definition, a hate crime is driven by hate
towards a certain group. The problem comes when it is time to distinguish
who has such hate in their mind and when their acts reflect their beliefs.
It is hard for the for the criminal justice system to investigate the beliefs
of someone. This creates a a great number of problems for law and
policy makers, as well as law enforcement. Take a look at the below
map and notice how there are still thirteen of our states without any known
hate crime statutes.
Even the state of Wyoming, which was the home
of Matthew
Shepard . Shepard a homosexual college student in Wyoming
was brutally murdered due to his sexual preference. Wyoming still
has been unable to pass hate crime legislation even after this horrific
incident. Out of all the groups it has come to our attention that
gays and lesbians have been the hardest to protect due to the fact that
many do no see homosexuality as acceptable. Who do you think
the people making legislation are? They are usually elder white men
who have not been raised in a society where homosexuality was prevalent,
therefore it is harder for them to accept.
Hate
Crimes Against Gay, Lesbian & Bisexual Americans
Should
Be A Punishable Federal Offense
The following information was provided by the
Human Rights Campaign
Reports of hate crimes against gay, lesbian,
and bisexual Americans are increasing. Yet only in very rare circumstances
can the federal government investigate and prosecute hate crimes committed
against persons because of their real or perceived sexual orientation or
gender. This is patently unfair since it prevents federal law enforcement
authorities from handling these offenses like hate crimes based on race,
religion, national origin, or color.
State laws are not adequate, either. Currently
only 21 states and the District of Columbia include sexual orientation
in their hate crime statutes. Twenty-one states have hate crime laws
that do not include sexual orientation, and eight have no hate crime statutes
whatsoever.
Does
Your State's Hate Crime Law Include
"Sexual
Orientation"
| Hate Crime Laws That Include "Sexual Orientation" |
Hate Crime laws That Exclude "Sexual Orientation" |
No Hate Crime Laws For Anyone |
| Arizona |
Alabama |
Arkansas |
| California |
Alaska |
Georgia |
| connecticut |
Colorado |
Hawaii |
| Delaware |
Idaho |
Indiana |
| District Of Columbia |
Maryland |
Kansas |
| Florida |
Michigan |
New Mexico |
| Illinois |
Mississippi |
South Carolina |
| Iowa |
Missouri |
Wyoming |
| Kentucky |
Montana |
|
| Louisiana |
New York |
|
| Maine |
north Carolina |
|
| Massachusetts |
North Dakota |
|
| Minnesota |
Ohio |
|
| Nebraska |
Oklahoma |
|
| Nevada |
Pennsylvania |
|
| New Hampshire |
South Dakota |
|
| New Jersey |
Tennessee |
|
| Oregon |
Texas* |
|
| Rhode Island |
Utah* |
|
| Vermont |
Virginia |
|
| Washington |
West virginia |
|
*The Texas statute refers
to victims
selected "because of the
defendant's bias
or prejudice against a person
or group,"
and the Utah statute ties
penalties for hate
crimes to violation of the
victim's constitutional
or civil rights.
Only Two Federal Hate Crimes Laws
Include Gays and Lesbians
Information Contained Here
Was provided by the
Human Rights CAmpaign
Currently, only two federal
hate crime laws include "sexual orientation" as a protected group.
The Hate Crimes Statistics Act, which originally became law in 1990, was
reauthorized in the 104th Congress through the year 2002. This law
calls for stated and localities to voluntarily report all hate crimes to
the FBI. The FBI is then mandated to compile these statistics into
an annual report. This law does not punish anti-gay hate crimes,
it simply tabulates the reported crimes in jurisdictions that provide statistics
to the FBI.
The Hate Crimes Sentencing
Enhancement Act, which was part of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement
Act of 1994, provides for tougher sentencing when it is proven beyond a
reasonable doubt that the crime committed was a hate crime. These
tougher sentences result, on average, an increase of one third additional
the actual time served. Because federal law enforcement agencies
do not yet have jurisdiction over anti-gay hate crimes, this law can only
be used against hate crimes based on sexual orientation when the offense
occurs on federal property, such as a national park.
Hate Crimes Across America
States in blue have no known State Hate Crime Statutes
By looking at this map, it is very evident that many states in the United
States need to pass hate crime legislation in their states.
Hate
Crime Statistics for California State University, 1997
| Cal State Universities |
Race |
Religion |
Sexual Orientation |
Ethnicity |
Disability |
| Bakersfield |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Chico |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Doninguez Hills |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Fresno |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Fullerton |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Hawyard |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Long Beach |
1 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
| Los Angeles |
2 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
| Monterey Bay |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| North Ridge |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Sacramento |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
| San Bernardino |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| San Jose |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| San Marcos |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Stanislaus |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Do you think these statistics are correct?
We find it hard to believe that there were only these few incidents
that occurred on California State University campuses in 1997. It
is more likely than not that the majority of the instances were misinterpreted
as something else, or just not reported.
Bibliography:
FBI (1997), UCR--Hate Crime 1995.*
Gerstenfeld, P.B. (1998). Reported
hate crimes in America.*
Distortions on Hate Crimes Bill, MetroG
(1998)
Amster, Joseph S.
Fighting Anti-Gay Hate Crimes, Human Rights Campaign
The Strange Case of Faked Hate Crimes,
U.S. News (11/3/97)
Levine,Art
New Hate Crimes Laws Demanded in Wake Killing,
The Data Lounge, (10-13-98)