Hate Crimes
Hate Crimes
Critical Analysis
Cheyenne Gallant
December 6, 2004
Res 110/Introduction to Research and Information Utilization
Instructor: Stephan Wertz
University of Phoenix
During the earlier times, hate crimes were once solely driven by one's hatred for another race. In today's society, there are many factors that contribute one's hate crime towards another. Hate crimes now stem from opposition to a person's race, religion, gender, disability and sexual orientation. Now, the questions remain, Should a hate crime be punished any differently from another crime? How do you making hatred illegal without violating a person's right under the First Amendment? Lawmakers around the United States have been made aware of the increasingly growing problem and are currently trying to propose a new federal law to punish offenders that commit these crimes severely. Although, some may argue that we do not need hate crime laws because a crime is still considered a crime regardless of why it was committed, others feel that new federal laws on hate crimes need to be put in place to deter offenders and give a sense of security potential victims.
Hate crimes are defined differently in each state therefore, there are currently a number of various laws and definitions that cover hate crimes depending on the jurisdiction or state in which the crime is committed. While the hate crime definition used by the FBI for purposes of crime statistics includes sexual orientation, disability and gender as protected categories, this is not the case for all hate crime laws. As of October 2001, the U.S. federal hate crime law (18 U.S.C. 245 (b) (2) protects religion, race and national origin and applies only if the victim is engaged in one of six protected activities. Seven states have no hate crime laws, twenty states have hate crime laws that do not protect sexual orientation,...
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