|
|
This is only a preview of the paper
Click here to register and get the full text.
Existing members click here to login
|
|
|
... Federal law defines a hate crime as whenever a victim is attacked on the basis of his or her race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or gender; hate offenses are directed against members of a particular group simply because of their membership in that group (Levin 4). ... There are over a hundred homicides committed every year, but the manner in which this life was taken and the apparent motive of his perpetrators leaves no doubt that this crime was one rooted in hate. ... This essay will use the Byrd murder to explore the cause and effects of hate crimes, and attempt to draw meaning from it so that a tragedy like this will not happen again. ... What happened thereafter undoubtedly has to be one of the most gruesome and horrifying crimes this country has seen since the days slavery was legal. ...
Research strongly suggests that hate crimes reported to the police have certain characteristics that distinguish them from other types of offenses. First, hate crimes tend to be excessively brutal; the hatred in such crimes is expressed when force is exercised beyond what is necessary to subdue victims or make them comply. ... A second characteristic of hate crimes is that they are often senseless or irrational crimes perpetrated at random on strangers. ... Another characteristic of hate crimes is, that they are usually perpetrated by multiple offenders; it is a group crime frequently carried out by young perpetrators operating together for the purpose of attacking the members of another group (Levin 16). ... satisfies these characteristics, and unmistakably qualifies as a hate crime. ...
In his book, Hate Crimes, Jack Levin proposes several factors that may cause one to commit a crime rooted in hate. “Learning to hate is almost as inescapable as breathing. The hate crime offender grows up in a culture that distinguishes certain people as righteous, while designating others as sleazy, immoral characters who deserve to be mistreated” (Levin 21). ... According to Morris Dees of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), an organization which tracks the activities of hate groups, the three men who murdered Byrd match the stereotype of perpetrators of hate crimes. ...
According to the SPLCs Klanwatch Project, the number of organized hate groups has grown significantly during the last few years, perhaps because of hard economic times. The particularly depressed economic conditions in rural areas of the United States since the early 1980s have provided a fertile breeding ground for organized hate groups, playing on a theme that has special appeal to downtrodden farmers and small town residents (Levin 113). ... Larry Fitzgerald, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, said that while all three men were serving time, they were suspected of belonging to white supremacy groups, specifically the Confederate Knights of America, a prison gang aligned with the Ku Klux Klan (Bragg 17). ... The Turner Diaries are a fictional account of race war in America and antigovernment-conspiracy, and is seen as the bible of hate groups. ... They say that they are not motivated by hate, but are simply proponents of white rights, trying to redress what they claim is current discrimination against white people (Novick 21).
Approximate Word count = 2486
Approximate Pages = 9.9
(250 words per page double spaced)
|
|
|
|
|
|