Crime Reports Essay Research Paper HATE CRIMES

Crime Reports Essay, Research Paper

HATE CRIMES

Hate crimes are crimes motivated by bias against an individual s actual or perceived race, ethical background, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or gender. Examples include assault and battery, vandalism, or threats which involve bias indicators-pieces of evidence like bigoted name-calling or graffiti. A hate crime is a civil rights violation under State laws and, in some cases, federal law. Hate crimes are not only crimes against the targeted victim, but also against a particular group as a whole. Hate crimes are attacks on communities.

Effective action against hate incidents requires that these crimes be

reported to police, and, in schools, to an administrator or teacher. Only if a hate crime is reported to local law enforcement, or to local school authorities can there be action taken to deal with it. In schools is where the majority of hate crimes are committed.

There are in many states, although not including Ohio, where a Governor s Task Force on Hate Crimes is committed to educating law enforcement, schools, and communities, to better prevent and respond to these crimes. I have gathered helpful information and a wide array of stat s on hate crimes, as well as support services.

I would like to begin by touching base on a particular project called Student Civil Rights Project . The Student Civil Rights Project is a model program initiated by the state of Massachusetts, Governor s Task Force on Hate Crimes in April 1998.

The focus of the project is to research, develop and coordinate solutions to combat prejudice and hate motivated violence in Massachusetts schools.

This program is a long-term solution that builds on community resources by strengthening communication and partnership between schools, law enforcement,

and community based organizations. This past summer a diverse group of high

school and college students from across Massachusetts came together to identify,

explore, review and design curricula and resources that school communities can use to combat violence and hatred.

The curricula being used in schools and youth organizations are based upon a few basic principles:

Violence and prejudice are learned attitudes and behaviors. We have the

ability to change our attitudes and how we act upon them.

Prejudice and violence prevention must take place with early intervention and education.

Awareness and appreciation of individual differences are central to

eliminating bias-motivated violence.

Helping students develop empathy skills to encouraging youth to put

themselves in the place of another person has proven effective in reducing hate-

motivated violence.

Recognition of individual responsibility is necessary, encouraging students, youth, and school personnel to take action and make a difference is vital.

Now I would like to briefly discuss hate groups and their strategies.

Membership in the oldest and prototypical hate groups, the various groups that

bear the name Ku Klux Klan, is near a historic low of about 5500. Another

17,000 people belong to similar groups. But these relatively low and seemingly

declining numbers ought not lead you of good will to minimize the dangers of

organized hate violence.

In part, the decline in organized hate groups is a tribute to the efforts of their opponents. For instance, in 1987 a lawsuit by the Southern Poverty Law Center resulted in a $7 million judgment against the United States Klans of America. In 1993, the Center shut down the Invisible Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. And, together with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), successfully litigated a $12.5 million judgment against the White Aryan Resistance.

But, with the success of these lawsuits, hate groups have adopted a new

strategy. Instead of orchestrating and perpetrating their own acts of violence, the new hate groups increasingly are advancing their views through the Internet,

literature distribution, broadcasts over public access television, and grassroots organizing.

The question for many is: How do we preserve the constitutional right to free speech, while countering the calls to bigotry and even violence. Brian Levin, Project Director or Klanwatch, a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center, says: There are racist, horrific, godless messages on the Net that encourage people to violence. They can say that every Black in the United States should be killed, that there should be another Holocaust. But the people posting these messages can t be prosecuted because they can t be specifically linked to subsequent action.

In short, the answer is to counter hate speech with more compelling speech promoting the vision of an America where we live together in mutual respect and celebrate our diversity. Several civil rights organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League, NAACP, ACLU, and the Simon Wisenthal Center have already begun a process like this, and the LCCR and LCEF will soon launch a joint Web Page to answer the hatemongers, advance intergroup relations, and promote an appreciation of how the civil rights movement has changed our country for the better.

Hate groups are recruiting among two very d

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