Hate Crime Designation Term Paper

criminal transgressions that are selected in hate crime laws contain, but are not restricted to, delinquencies against persons like aggravation, terroristic coercions, assault and criminalities against possessions or property like criminal trespass, criminal disruption and incendiarism. It may also comprise of defacement causing destruction to a church, synagogue, graveyard, morgue, and honoring to the dead, school, educational institution, other public buildings, courthouse, or any personal property situated within such spaces. This research papers highlights what is a hate crime, how states may vary in terms of designation of a hate crime and the impact it has on society. The main focus of this paper is to show what happens when designations becomes part of hate crime policy and action against hate crimes.

Introduction

A hate crime, typically defined by state law, encompasses acts of violence such as: terrorizations, aggravation, or bodily harm and is driven by preconception against someone's race, color, conviction, national derivation, culture, sexual orientation or mental or physical disability. Much like the definitions of hate crimes vary by state, they also vary in classification as states have differing penalties for hate crimes and what is considered a hate crime. States possessing or enforcing hate crime statutes, like New York, provide stricter consequences for such misconducts, while others with more lax policies or none at all like Georgia, rarely if at all enforce any penalties. Hate crimes designation is what would be or not be considered a hate crime. The literature will highlight some examples along with the impact hate crimes designation has on society, the consequences of either pointing towards leniency or severity.

Review of the Research

Many people argue what hate crime should comprise of. People get bullied and picked on for things that are not deemed a hate crime but would fit the definition of a hate crime. One such example is ageism. As Jacobs & Potter writes: "If crime based upon race discrimination is an especially heinous crime, then many people will no doubt conclude that crime based upon ageism ought to be a hate crime trigger" (Jacobs & Potter, 1998, p. 21). People who are mistreated due to their age often get harassed, picked on, and even abused because they are deemed weak and old and some express a dislike for older individuals. Does that mean it should be a part of the hate crime definition? How does this play into the role of hate crimes designation?

Jacobs & Potter goes on to add: "The same kind of logic no doubt will lead advocates for the physically and mentally handicapped, undocumented aliens, HIV positive persons, and others to demand special condemnation and extra punishment for criminals who victimize them" (Jacobs & Potter, 1998, p. 21). In the news there have been reports of illegal immigrants who were beat and killed. Many people in America have expressed hatred for illegal immigrants, some even taking to the borders and killing them on site. However, since lots of states do not view discrimination or harassment against illegal immigrants as a hate crime, these criminal activities go fairly unnoticed or are met with lack of sympathy or consequence.

"Contrariwise, if the hate crime designation's satisfied by a showing of merely a slight relationship between prejudice and criminal conduct, a great deal of crime by members of one group against members of another group will be labeled as hate crime" (Jacobs & Potter, 1998, p. 21). As James & Potter state, designation plays an important role in how society perceives what is a hate crime and therefore acts upon such criminal activity. Many who advocate for the rights of illegal immigrants and people with HIV see the connection of how these are mistreated and what…