Hate CrimesAbstractHate crimes have always been committed and are a part of our history. The term “hate crime” did not enter the nation’s vocabulary until the 1980s. Hate crimes have an effect on not only the person the crime is committed against but on society as a whole.
Hate CrimesHate crimes are a sad part of our history. The FBI began investigating what we call hate crimes as far back as World War I, when the Ku Klux Klan got their attention.(FBI, 2014) The Department of Justice defines a hate crime as “the violence of intolerance and bigotry, intended to hurt and intimidate someone because of their race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, or disability.” The laws have changed to make any crime that is hate crimes carry harsher punishments.
The most common hate crime in history was racial crimes but hate crimes happen due to religion, sexual orientation, and other reasons. “The FBI reported 7,722 incidents of hate crimes in 2006, of which about 52 percent were directed at people because of their race; 19 percent, because of the victims’ religion; 16 percent because of their sexual orientation; and 13 percent because of their ethnicity or national origin.”(NCPC, 2014) In 2012 law enforcement agencies reported 5,796 hate crime incidents down some from 2006. (FBI, 2014)
People who commit these crimes are not always part of an organized group such as the Klu Klux Klan, although those groups and others do exist in today’s world. Many times these crimes are the result of fear, such as what happened after the attacks on New York in 2011. Violence against Arab and Muslim Americans reached its height after the tragic events of September 11, 2001. There are other causes such as thrill seeking, to protect their neighborhood from perceived outsiders, acting in response to a hate crime either perceived or actual, and because they are so committed to bigotry. Many hate crimes occur with the younger generation because they try for acceptance from peers by taking on the attitudes of the group they are involved with. The perpetrators
of this type are not always targeted by law enforcement or by the state, but by many, some of them also are “lovers.””‡ It is important for the perpetrators to be identified in their own homes and to tell their story and explain their goals and consequences in a way that is relevant to the larger society, especially for minority communities. As a group, our society has become increasingly hostile toward them and encourages more hostility toward us, often at the expense of other groups and people. The state and media focus on, and suppress or prevent such groups from being included in our society and may then be even more detrimental to the community and the cause of the crime. I am in the process of understanding what is the history of such a dangerous act of violence and how it has happened.”‡  And for the victims of this type of crime, there are more questions than answers. This year’s attack in New York that killed three victims, including the young man, is one of the most important in terms of not only the scope of the threat, but also the danger to our society. Although many of what you heard could be described as anti-Semitic or even racial hate speech or even hate speech that is not directed at Jews or Muslims, this was not done purposefully, in a malicious manner or intentionally. This type of crime is very common in both the Muslim and Eastern European countries that are hosting the terrorist attack in London or in the Middle East, as well as within our own communities in the Middle East. Many of you may have heard about threats on Twitter to Muslim Americans that would include Muslim Americans committing acts of terrorism against our communities, and many have also heard about similar attacks on American citizens, but this was not done on the basis of actual terrorism. There are those that understand the importance of this particular type of terrorism, but have not seen this type of activity, and also that this type of crime is not the result of any lone-wolf or group of individuals. We have become increasingly more fearful of the impact of such crimes on the lives of innocent people or communities, and have become increasingly aware of our ability to prevent and respond to these attacks with every legal, political and moral act that we take. I am in the process of educating other law enforcement agents and other law enforcement leaders what this type of crime represents. This will help educate our officers to better understand the impact of violent acts of all types of crimes by members of our society and their families. What this program is about is addressing both the needs and concerns of law enforcement of countries impacted by terrorist attacks and the broader needs of communities in the United States to address the threat and provide the appropriate safety to our community. It is critically important for the perpetrators to be identified in their own home, in their homes, and clearly explain how their goal and purpose is to harm and kill innocent people, especially innocent black and brown Americans. I hope that this program will help educate our law enforcement agents in all of our communities to work together and to learn from our communities and make more meaningful progress toward the prevention of