This web page is designed to show everyone
about the policy problems that exist in the criminal justice field.
?
By Gordon West, Juan Saenz, & Della Burleson
?
2.? What was the second most popular motive for the hate crimes reported?
3.? Name one of the cities that accounted for a quarter or more of the hate crimes reported concerning the second question.
4.? What is the third motive for committing a hate crime?
5.? Does being comfortable with your law enforcement agencies have any effect on the number of hate crimes that will be reported? Why or Why not?
6.? If the exact same hate crime were being committed by a black man and a white man, who do you think would most likely get into trouble for it? Why?
7.? Does stereotyping play a part in the influence of how victims and observers determine whether or not something is a hate crime?
8.? What is the hate crime that is least likely to get reported? Why?
9.? Do you think that it would be harder to write a hate crime law because of all the different aspects or would it be harder to enforce one? Why?
10. Do you think that the recent
shooting of the teacher, by the 14 year old boy, at a school dance was
a hate crime? Why or Why not?
?
1.? Race or ethnicity
2.? Sexual orientation
3.? (any of the following)
??????????? 1.? Los Angeles (1991)
??????????? 2.? Portland (1993)
??????????? 3.? San Francisco (1989-1994)
??????????? 4.? San Diego (1992-1993)
??????????? 5.? San Jose (1993)
4.? Religion
5.? Yes, the more comfortable you are, the more crime you will report.
6.? more often than not, the black man (it also depends on the race and ???? ethnicity of the victim)
7.? Yes, because if you already stereotype a black man as a troublemaker, than you will automatically say that he is at fault in a hate crime.
8.? Crimes against gay people (A lot of gays are still "in the closet", and it could ruin them if people found out that they were gay.)
9.? Enforce one, it is hard to determine exactly what a hate crime is.? If we, as a society, cannot decide what is and is not a hate crime, how can we even try to enforce them?
10. It all depends on the state that you live in.? Some states include age into their hate crime laws.
Now that we have gotten the test out of the way, let's try to help you understand the policy problems that exist in hate crimes.? First, let's look at a table that shows the percentage of offenders by race and ethnicity (Gerstenfeld Table 4).
Location??? ???? Year??????? White??????? Black??????? Other??????? Unknown
FBI???????????
1993??????? 51.2%??????? 35%?????????? 7%??????? ?? 6.8%
?????????????
?1992??????? 39.2%??????? 20.1%??????? 2.4%???????? 38.3%
?????????????
?1991??????? 36.8%??????? 16.9%???????? 6%???????? ??43.3%
Chicago???? ???1993????????? 35%?????? ?? 32%?????????? 0?????????? ? 33%
Florida??????? ?1990???????? ? 33%???????? 27%???????????0???????? ???40%
Massachusetts??? 1992??????? 47%?????????14.9%??????? 5.6%???????? 32.5%
Minnesota????
??1993?????? ? 61.7%?????? ? 34%?????????1.8%???????? 2.4%
????????????
??1992???? ??? 49%????????? 44.5%???????6.2%??????????
0
????????????
??1991??????? 43.3%??????? 50.6%??????? 6.1%?????????? 0
?????????????
?1990??????? 45.2%??????? 50.8%??????? 4.1%?????????? 0
?????????????
?1989??????? 40.6%??????? 55.1%??????? 4.1%????????? 0.2%
Philadelphia??? ?1993?????? ? 38.7%??????? 6.8%??????????? 0?????? ???50.2%
Sacramento???? ?1993??????? 43.1%?????? ? 33.8%??????? 26.2%????????? 0
San Jose?????
?? 1993??????? 38.9%????? ?? 19.4%??????? 41.7%????????? 0
??????????????
1992??????? 35.1%???? ??? 28.1%??????? 36.9%?????????? 0
??????????????
1991??????? 24.2%?????? ? 17.6%??????? 58.2%?????????? 0
Seattle????????
?1993?????? 29.6%????? ?? 28%?????????? 8.3%???????34.1%
?
Now, what this shows (besides a bunch of numbers that have probably made you cross-eyed by now) is that whites are responsible for a majority of all hate crimes that deal with race and ethnicity.? Some of this has to do with the fact that there are more whites in the United States than any other race.? Some of this, on the other hand, has to do with the plain and simple fact that whites commit more hate crimes than any other race.
There is another table that comes from the same article, Hate Crimes. This table shows the number of hate crimes by location and year.? If the first one made you go cross-eyed, this one would have made you blind.? I will summarize the table for you (Gerstenfeld 22-23).
In 1994, the top three locations with the highest number of reported hate crimes were Los Angeles City (308),? San Francisco (285), and Orange County, CA (180).
In 1993, the top three locations with the highest number of reported hate crimes were Los Angeles County (783), New York City (590), and Los Angeles City (534).
In 1992, the top three locations with the highest number of reported hate crimes were Los Angeles County (736), Los Angeles City (514), and Massachusetts (480).
In 1991, the top three locations for the highest number of reported hate crimes were Los Angeles County (663), Minnesota (425), and San Francisco (401).
In 1990, the top three locations with the highest number of reported hate crimes were Los Angeles County (550), Minnesota (307), and San Francisco (278).
In 1989, the top three locations with the highest number of reported hate crimes were Los Angeles County (378), Minnesota (255), and San Francisco (183).
As you can probably tell by the above listings, California has been at the top part of the hate crimes charts over the years.? This is due, in part, to California's hate crime laws.? They are way to broad in my opinion.? They cover everything under the sun.? It seems as if you are not exactly like everyone else, then California has a hate crime law that protects you.
Policy problems occur when we, as a society, do not know what a hate crime is.? I am almost done with this course, and it is still hard for me to define what a hate crime is.? I am still not sure whether or not hate crime laws are Constitutional or not.? I think that the problems that are related to policy would be greatly reduced if there were only one, standardized hate crime law.
This is much easier said than done.? Who do you protect, and who don't you protect.? If you protect race and ethnicity but not religion, then the religious sects will complain.? The same is true for everyone.? When you get down to the end, everyone will be protected by some type of hate crime law.? At that point, there would really be no point to even have them because it would get rediculous.
We cannot expect policies to change or get better until we make our hate crime laws better.
I hope that you have enjoyed this page.? It is very difficult to find much information on this subject.? I know that this is not interesting as the Ku Klux Klan or other groups, but it is still a necessary topic in hate crimes.? If you are still here, thank you, and I will try to update this page when I get new information.
If you have any comments, please
feel free to e-mail me.? I will pass the information along to my partners
on this project.
?
?
?
? GFWIV@aol.com
Gerstenfeld, Phyllis B. Reported Hate Crimes in America, California
State University Stanislaus.