Hate Crimes in the United States Despite

Hate Crimes in the United States Despite the fact that the United States has grown generally more tolerant and more accepting, hate crimes have been on the rise in many cities in the United States, particularly in California, New York, New Jersey, Michigan, and Massachusetts (Partners against Hate, 2003). This does not necessarily reflect an overall increase in crime. In fact, it may not even reflect an increase in actual hate crimes, but might reflect a greater awareness and reporting of crimes.

This is because hate crimes are based upon regular crimes. In fact, a hate crime is a "traditional offense like murder, arson, or vandalism with an added element of bias" (FBI, 2013). These crimes can include petty crimes like vandalism to violent crimes like rape and murder. Therefore, these crimes have long been being committed with bias as a motive, but only being reported as the underlying offense. In other words, society has grown more tolerant of those people who are generally targeted as victims of hate crimes.

In addition, society has become less tolerant of crimes where bias is a motivation and more willing to explore bias as a motivation, rather than dismissing the idea that a crime has been motivated by bias. Therefore, the increase in reporting may be due to greater awareness and not to an actual increase in bias-motivated crimes. In order to reduce the number of hate crimes, it is important to understand some basic information about hate crimes.

Almost any crime can be a hate crime, as long as the motivation to commit the crime is the underlying bias. Hate crimes occur because of bias, therefore understanding what causes bias is important. "Hate crimes often occur as a result of prejudice and ignorance. A lack of understanding about differences among people and their traditions contributes to fear and intolerance. Left unaddressed, these sentiments may often lead to acts of intimidation and ultimately hate-motivated violence" (Partners against Hate, 2003).

Furthermore, hate crimes impact more than just the specific victim of the crime, because they can cause fear that impacts the entire spirit of a community. While those who commit hate crimes are driven by a common motivator, any person can commit a hate crime. First, people who commit hate crimes are usually young (Partners against Hate, 2003). This aligns with the fact that most criminals, particularly violent offenders, are young. In addition, those who commit hate crimes are generally in positions of power in comparison to their victims.

For example, most hate crime offenders are straight, white males (Partners against Hate, 2003). However, people in minority positions can commit hate crimes as well. For example, of the 6,934 identified hate crime offenders in 2009, 1,286 were black (Partners against Hate, 2003). While minorities are at higher risk of being victims of hate crimes, the reality is that any person can be the victim of a hate crime. Victims are chosen based on their perpetrator's bias, and race, religion, sexuality, national origin, ethnicity, and disability can all be sources of bias (U.S.

Department of Justice, 2010). However, because more perpetrators are in the majority groups, more victims are in minority groups. Blacks, Jews, Hispanics, and those with mental disabilities are in high-risk groups for hate crimes (U.S. Department of Justice, 2010). Understanding that ignorance and fear are the roots of hate crimes, it seems clear that ending hate crimes is going to require combating ignorance. Moreover, because young people are most likely to be hate crime offenders, it.