Hate Crimes and the Law

Paper Summary:

The paper discusses hate crimes and states that they differ from ordinary crimes in the impact they have upon the victim and the larger group to which the victim belongs. An example has been provided in "Attorney General's Civil Rights Commission on Hate Crimes" by mentioning the Jewish and Filipino communities throughout US that were strongly impacted by the attack on the West Valley Jewish Community Center and the slaying of Joseph Ileto. The paper highlights that another community greatly impacted by the murders of Matthew Shepherd and Gary Matson and Winfield Mowder, was the gay community. The paper mentions that hate crimes affect not only the victim but also all the members of the victim's group. The paper continues and reflects on the punishment involved, the differences between hate, ordinary and brutal crimes and the involvement of the law. The paper concludes that it is necessary to identify the nature of the crime together with proper recording of crime.

From the Paper:

"There are many thinkers and writers that question the legitimacy of hate or bias crime laws on the basis that they violate a fundamental democratic principle by punishing individuals for their prejudiced thoughts and beliefs. The assumption is that the defendant had a bias motive for committing the offense and the motive consists solely of the defendant's thought. Therefore, it has been argued that bias crime laws are illegitimate because they punish motive. In addition, the fact that complicates things further is that the motive is inextricably tied to a certain set on political values and attitudes. Other writers have recognized that hate crime is a social construct, focusing on prejudice as a criminal act."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Report of Attorney General's Civil Rights Commission on Hate Crimes, Retrieved from http://caag.state.ca.us/publications/civilrights/reportingHC.pdf
• Gerstenfeld, P. B. (2004). Hate Crimes: Causes, Controls, and Controversies, Sage Publications Inc
• Nolan, J.J., Y. Akiyama. (1999). Analysis of Factors That Affect Law Enforcement Participation in Hate Crime Reporting. Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice 15:1, February 1999, 111-127.
• Gellman, S. (1992). Hate Crime Laws are Thought Crime Laws, Annual Survey of American Law, No.3, pp. 514-515
• Altman, A. (2001), The Democratic Legitimacy of Bias Crime Laws: Public Reason and the Political Process Law and Philosophy, Vol. 20, No. 2, Hate Crime Legislation Mar., pp. 141-173

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