An Analysis of the Root Causes of Hate Crimes

An Analysis of the Root Causes of Hate Crimes

Abstract

Hate crimes have been a longtime surviving problem and challenge in America. In the early 19^th century, lynching was a common crime, and mostly based on racial segregation. By the early 1950’s hate crimes had advanced from purely racial to include crimes and violence against the gay members of society and gender based hate crimes. Hate crimes are born out of prejudice which comes across in the form of scape goating and stereotyping. For decades now, the focus has been on understanding the effects of such hate crimes, and therefore providing recommendations based on the emergency nature of the problem. Today, hate crimes affect and have effect not on a singular group, race or ethnicity but rather on a diverse range of people. This paper sets itself to examine the main drivers for hate crime offenders. Different forms of hate crime have different drivers. Understanding such drivers provides a basis for providing substantial and sustainable solutions to the problem of hate crimes in America.

Introduction

In every society, there exists a foundation of prejudice and subsequent differences between people living in the society; this is often the foundation of hate crimes. According to Perry (2002) hate crimes are violent crimes that are born out of perceived privilege and intolerance to people who are perceived not to enjoy such privileges. The perpetrator often feels they are privileged by virtue of their choices, membership to particular groups and natural abilities over others. The victim on the other hand, has membership to what is considered lower groups, different natural abilities and lacks the ability to make similar choices to the perpetrator. Levin and McDevitt (2013) cautions that by definition, most people make the assumption that there must be proof of hate for the crime to be considered a hate crime. However, the existence of hate is not a pre-requisite to the action being considered hate crime, rather there must be existence of a bias attitude which propagated the crime thus giving birth to the action.

Hate crimes have become so common that it is difficult to keep track of the rising occurrences across the globe and the country. Today, the pursuit to end hate crimes has become a matter of emergency for governments and human rights organizations worldwide. Herek et al.(2013) estimates that since the year 2013, more than 1300 lies have been lost to hate crimes; and these are only those that were reported and recorded as hate crimes. Even more deaths are estimated to have occurred under this category. In addition, there have been many injuries, accidents and even property damages that are attributed to hate crimes. Even with a society that is considered to be fully modernized, the problem of hate crime seems to be interacted into our very existence.

Background to the problem

For the third consecutive year, hate crimes around the major cities in the USA have increased in prevalence, occurrence as well as seriousness of injury. This is despite growing efforts by many groups to address the growing level of hate crimes (Shively 2005). Both the policing communities as well as human rights organizations have increased the focus on the problem of hate crime following various vigorous responses to incidences. Each group involved in the law has been sensitized to severity and the need of addressing the problem of hate crimes. However, there is considerable disparity with how various organizations and institutions respond t hate crimes. This has led to some level of tolerance as the American society buries its head and ignores what is soon to become an emergency. In some cases, institutions including the police feel that the acts of crime that is hate crime in themselves are either justified or not serious enough to warrant the pursuit of justice. Hate is slowly transforming to a functional element of society, bringing people together instead of drawing them apart.

One of the difficulties in addressing the problem of hate crime is under reporting. Majority of the victims often feel that the crime is given little attention and exposes them to more danger. This leads to lower reporting of the same crimes. In fact even with the rising statistics reported by the FBI, it remains clear that even more cases of hate crime are not reported. Petrosino (1999) states that the American law requires proof of hate in the existence of the crime. Such proof is often difficult and in some cases immediately ignored and not directly pursued, the result is that individuals are unable to pursue justice and are less motivated to make reports of hate crimes. The sensitive nature of hate crimes also leads to fear among the victims for further victimization. Taking into account for example, gender violence or hate crimes based on gender, victims often feel that they are victimized once again when perpetrators are either let go, or when they have to prove that they did not invite or incite the attention that led to the criminal behavior.

Victims of racially motivated hate crimes on the other hand, often fear the process of justice which in many cases is biased so that the punishment is not equal to the crime itself. It is important to note that in some states, hate crimes are not recognized in a special category but are rather tried as normal crimes making it difficult to prosecute, and seek justice for the victims. Such states include Indiana, Arkansas, Georgia, South Carolina and Wyoming. Coupled with this is the fact that for many prosecutors in the state, hate crimes draw too much attention and are less attractive in comparison to other crimes.

Forms of hate crimes

Religious hate crimes: Jeness and Grattet (2001) states that religious hate crimes have increased by more than 23% in the past decade in the united states alone. Religious hate crimes are crimes that are propagated by differences in religion and faith alone. They are crimes against other people, their property and threats against their own wellbeing based on the fact that they come from different faiths. Recent increase in religious hate crimes can be attributed to the continued popularity and belief that particular faiths emphasize and teach their faithful to engage in violence. In a country where freedom of religion is touted a right for citizens, the concern over growing intolerance for minority religions is alarming.

Disability hate crime: this is behavior and hostility that guided to an individual because of their disability or connection to the disability. It remains the most under recorded type of hate crime, since police officers do not take it seriously and often ignore the seriousness of the crime. Because of the nature and ability of the victim, disability hate crimes may take place over a long period of time, covering months and even weeks (Craig 2002). It is simply prejudice that takes advantage of what the victim is unable to do for themselves.

Racial hate crimes: Race is the most common form of hate crime. For decades now civil societies have addressed the problem of race and racial prejudice. Even in the formal workplaces, the problem of race prejudice is one which cannot be ignored. In fact King et al. (2009) state that racial hate crimes have formed the foundation for all policies directed at hate crimes. Hate crimes are born from the perception that a particular race and color of people are better than others.

Sexual orientated hate crimes: The immediate victims of sexual orientation propagated hate crimes include individuals who are gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered. What is concerning however is that despite the existence of third form of crime, since the early 1960’s, there are states which are yet to categories and rate policies surrounding this particular form of hate crime. According to the FBI statistics as quoted by Dunbar (2006), 60.4% of the sexual orientation hate crimes were directed at individuals and mostly involved rape, sexual assault, verbal abuse, assault and murder.

Gender based hate crime: Traditional culture was built around the belief of specific gender roles. This culture has been taught and passed down in society for centuries. However s more people begin to challenge their gender roles and gender definition, they find themselves as victims of hate crimes based on their specific gender. Sexual assault is only one of the methods that is used to propagate violence and criminal behavior agonist people of specific gender. McPhail (2002) states that when it comes to gender hate crimes, perpetrators are often and more uniquely people who are close to the victim.

Drivers of hate crimes

Social environment: The manifestations of hate are plentiful, yet the study into what causes the development of hate itself is quite limited. Morsch (2001) lays his reasoning on social behavioral theories. He determines that the nature of an individual is often crucially determined by the social environment in which they grow. An environment which enhances the differences between people, for example emphasizing the importance of a particular race is likely to lead to privileged thoughts. Jackson and Heckman (2002) agree indicating that children who have grown up in high income families are likely to frown upon the behavior and nature of others.

Thrill seeking: Young people involved in hate crime, have no particular reason for engaging in such behavior rather the behavior is a result of immature pursuit for excitement. The victims themselves are chosen based simply on the fact that their gender, religion and ethnicity differs from that f perpetrators. In the current age of social media fame, thrill seekers tend to think that violence and crimes against their victims provide a one way ticket to stardom.

Intolerance: Intolerance according to Ferber (2004), intolerance is the unwillingness to adapt, and accept the views and beliefs of others who are considered “different”. Unlike thrill seekers who attack people and groups without any reason or ample warning, intolerance leads to targeting of specific groups. It justifies the crime and behavior e.g. assault, destruction of property and threats as a necessary tool to keep invasive ideas and behavior at bay.

Revenge: Hate crimes can also be caused by the pursuit of revenge over imagined mistakes and slights over an individual, society or group or in response to other hate crimes and criminal behavior. Avengers are likely to act in small groups or as individuals, since it is based on the fact that all members faced the same situation or were caused to endure the same challenges. Gerstenfeld (2017) suggest that most of the revenge hate crimes in modern times are likely to occur immediately after an act of terrorism.

Fear: Sometimes hate crimes are born out of simple fear that people who are different or who hold different beliefs are a cause of danger. The perpetrators believe that they are in turn defending themselves from the possibility of harm from others. Fear is a complex emotion that immediately leads an individual to become defensive. The stronger the fear, the more likely that the response will be violent as well as fatal.

Combating hate crimes

It is not a secret that the government has been struggling with dealing with hate crimes. Many recommendations have been made, but few see to take root and work within the society. Haider-Markel (2008) notes that this is simply because there is little collaboration between agencies which are directed towards addressing the problem of hate crimes. A hate crime provides a unique opportunity for society to bring together all its institutions to work together towards resolving the problem from the root. Local law enforcement agencies can work hand in hand with humanitarian organizations to bring about awareness of hate crimes, encourage victims to record and bring forth cases of hate crimes and finally ensure proper follow up of such cases.

The traditional legal system when it comes to hate crimes has unfairly focused on the perpetrators of the crime. According to Beale (2000) government research and attention is often focused on reducing the desire of the perpetrator to commit the same crime. Despite the legalities and the law statutes on hate crime, it is likely that the same criminals will face minimum punishment if any. It is important for the legal system to restructure so that maximum support is given to victims. From local courts, police departments even to the national level, support for victims allows for cases to be addressed, perpetrators discouraged and support granted to the victims appropriately.

Hate continues to thrive because it remains hidden. Even when exposed, it is often hidden in code and unfathomable systems. Majority of the time, hate crimes are rarely reported. Even where they are reported victims are discouraged against exposing the nature of the crime. Society in itself has become dependent on the nature of hate, to hide it. Exposure also means education. From schools and institutions, it is important to educate people first on what exactly entails a hate crime. Media houses which are known for sensationalizing stories should be more focused and directed towards educating the public on the nature of hate crimes.

Conclusion

Media and especially social media is a tool that reaches thousands of people at the same time with the same message. In the past, media has been considered the enemy because of the nature of information that they report. However, the media can be an ideal tool for education and teaching others the value of acceptance and lack of prejudice. Solutions of hate crime are no longer short term but rather long term. The various forms of hate crime need to be defined within the confines of the law, with specific processes and punishments to be meted out for each.

Hate crimes have garnered much attention in the last year. While attempting to understand the prognosis of hate crimes, an important element is gaining knowledge on the root causes of hate crimes. Hate crimes are designed to act as a message to two groups: the group who which the perpetrator is a member, and the victim’s group. The effects of a hate crime are more long lasting in comparison to other forms of crimes because they cause psychological trauma. It is only when the root causes of hate crime are openly addressed that the solutions being offered will be effective rather than seemingly band aid solutions.

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