Download hate crimes - TeacherWeb

What Is the Meaning
of this Symbol?
Swastika
• Ancient symbol used for over 3,000 years
meaning “good to be…” (good luck)
• Many different – positive connotations used by
many cultures
• Hitler, a frustrated artist, was responsible for
propaganda development for National Socialist
Party; in 1920 he selected the swastika as an
emblem of racial purity …”eternally anti-Semitic”
HATE / BIAS MOTIVATED CRIMES
DEFINITION
“…Criminal offenses motivated by hatred
against a victim based on his or her race,
religion, sexual orientation, handicap,
ethnicity, or national origin.”
BJA Monograph: A Policymaker’s Guide to Hate Crimes (November 1999)
Revised Code of Washington
RCW 9A.36.080
“Malicious Harassment”
Maliciously & intentionally causes:
• Physical injury
• Physical damage to property
• Threatens/puts a person in reasonable fear of injury to
person or property
• Class C Felony
Victim Status Required by RCW
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Race
Color
Religion
Ancestry
National Origin
Gender
Sexual Orientation
Handicap
History
• Early Romans persecuted the Christians
• 1940’s: Nazi’s extermination of 6.5 million Jews
referred to as the “final solution”
• 1994: Genocide in Rwanda (Tutsis v. Hutus –
“tribal warfare” resulting in 850,000 deaths)
• 1995-97: “Ethnic cleansing” in Bosnia (murder,
rape, expulsion of Bosnian citizens)
Significance of Hate Crimes
• One crime targets every member of that group
• “Psychological impact” is felt by all members of
that group
• Community stability is lessened
• Retaliation and counter-retaliation can occur
Victims In United States
• African Americans (most frequent target)
• Jewish population
• Gays
• Muslims (9/11)
• Asian Americans India (intellect, economic, outsourcing)
• Federal government workers
Individual Perpetrators
• Scapegoat mentality ((intellect, economic,
outsourcing…)
• View their targets as threats to safety and property
values
• “Thrill seekers” – randomly select their victims, minority
status is interchangeable, act on impulse
• “Mission Offenders” –though a minority, believe they are
on a mission to rid the world of a perceived “evil”
Psychology of the Perpetrator
• “The criminal invokes race, ethnicity, or sexual
orientation as a pretext for doing whatever he
wants. He is no stranger to assault, robbery, or
rape to begin with. Victimizing a person from a
particular group that he professes to dislike
heightens the excitement and increases the
satisfaction. …There is nothing unique about the
psychology of hate-crime perpetrators. They are
criminals just like any other.”
Stanton E. Samenow, Ph. D., Inside The Criminal Mind (2003)
Hate Crime Statistics
• Meaningful statistics
are difficult to
establish
• Hate crimes are
typically
underreported
Problems With Statistics
• Many LE agencies lack staff,
inclination, or technical
expertise to report statistics
• Certain communities
“underreport” to preserve
cultural, political, and
economic stability
• Victims reluctant to report to
avoid humiliation (loss of
dignity), fear of being “outed,”
fear of deportation, and no
trust in public officials-authority
Characteristics of Hate Crime
• Most crimes are committed by strangers
• Most likely to involve physical assault
• More likely to result in physical injury
caused by “imprecise weapons of
opportunity (bricks, bats, tree limbs)
Climate of “Hate”
•
•
•
•
Shock radio
Racial stereotypes on TV and in movies
Racial “code” language
Personal Experiences
Trigger Incidents
• Rodney King incident
– acquittal of four
police officers caused
1992 Los Angeles
riots
• Post 9/11 Mosque
Burnings
Patriot / White Supremacist Movement
• Neo-Nazi’s
• Klansman
• Montana Freeman
(Constitutionalist)
• Anti-abortion radicals
A Shift In Strategy
• Disclaimers for their
members to not
commit crimes
• Cyber-culture
• Underground books
• Magazines
• Music
Rock Against Communism (RAC)
• Misrepresents its target and has a largely white
supremacist, anti-Semitic message
• “White Power” music
Music September 2004
• Educator Alert! Hate Music Label Targets
Schools
This is to alert you to an issue with deeply troubling implications for our
nation’s schools. Panzerfaust, a white power music company based in
Minnesota, plans to target youth through the distribution of 100,000 racist and
anti-Semitic CDs to schools and other locations throughout the United States.