DCultural Diversity for the Criminal Justice Professional
Discussion 8
In Multicultural Law Enforcement:
Review Chapter 11, "Hate/Bias Crimes: Victims, Laws, Investigations, and Prosecutions," pages 321-362.
Complete the following:
Review the chapter presentation titled, "Hate/Bias Crimes: Victims, Laws, Investigations, and Prosecutions."
Week 8: Week Eight - Class Discussion
Only 150 words / please
Instructional Objectives for this activity:
Analyze various issues in reducing hate crimes and gang activity.
This week's topic can be controversial and may get sensitive from time to time. You are expected to respect one another's experiences and opinions.
Have you yourself been a victim of a hate/bias crime or incident? Have you perhaps observed a hate/bias incident, or heard about one from someone else? If so, please share your experience with the class, including the events surrounding the confrontation and the feelings you experienced while it was occurring or you were hearing about it.
The Hate/ Bias Crime Problem:
Victims of hate/ bias have crimes are particularly sensitive and unsettled because they feel powerless to alter the situation, since they cannot change their racial, ethnic or religious background. Furthermore, the individual involved is not the sole victim, because often fear of similar crimes can affect an entire group of citizens. A physical attack on a person because of race, religion, ethnic background, or sexual orientation is a particularly insidious form of violent behavior. Verbal assaults on persons because of others’ perceptions of their “differences” are equally distressing to both the victim and the society. And, unfortunately, these kinds of incidents can also occur in the law enforcement workplace among coworkers. When law enforcement treats such occurrences seriously, it sends a message to community members that the local police agency will protect them. Doing the same within the law enforcement organization and correctional system sends a vitally important message to all employees.
The criminal justice system, and especially local law enforcement agencies, will become focus of criticism if attacks are not investigated, resolved, and prosecuted promptly and effectively. A hate/ bias crime can send shock, waves through the ethnic or racial community at which the act was aimed. These acts create danger, frustration, concern, and anxiety in our communities. Law enforcement and corrections personnel must have some perspective on both the global and the local situation when it comes to hatred and bias within the population they serve or whining which they work. Criminal Justice system practitioners must be trained to counters hate crimes and violence as well as addressing their inhumane impact.
Many studies over the years have determined that a large number of hate crime perpetrators are youthful thrill-seekers, and the same research statistics indicate that as many as 60 percent of common group responsible for hate crimes is reactive offenders who feel that they are answering an attack by their victims. The least common perpetrators, according to reports, are hard-core fanatics who are driven by racial or religious ideology or ethnic bigotry.
These individuals are often members of or potential recruits or for extremist organizations. Some perpetrators of hate crimes live on the U.S. borders and are petrified by what they consider to be “brown perpetrators of hordes” of Mexicans, South and Central Americans, Cubans, and Haitians who enter the United States both legally and illegally. They feel that if they cease their militant rhetoric and violence toward these immigrants, the county will be inundated with immigrants. It is a fact the Mexicans is the largest immigrant group in the country. There are also many racists living near Native American reservations; their aim is to challenge, through violence, the few remaining treaty rights granted to native people.
Community awareness of hate violence grew rapidly in the United States during the late 1980s and 1990s. Many states commissioned special task forces to recommend ways to contacts of bigotry and hate violence, and legislation was passed. Despite the abundance of rhetoric deploring acts of bigotry and hate violence, however, few communities have utilized a holistic approach the problem. Typically, efforts to prevent and respond to such crimes by local agencies have not been coordinated. Indeed, there are many effective programs that deal with a particular aspect of bigotry or hate in a specific setting; however, few models weave efforts to prevent hate violence into the fabric of the community.
Hate Crime
The federal definition of hate crime addresses civil rights violations under Title 18 U.S.C. Section 245. Although state definitions vary, in general a hate crime is considered to be:
A criminal act or attempted act,
Against a person, institution, or property,
That is motivated in whole or in part by the offender’s bias against a
Race,
Color,
Religion,
Gender,
Ethnic/national origin group,
Disability status, or
Sexual orientation group.
Hate Incident:
Hate incidents involved behaviors that, through motivated by bias against a victim’s race, religion, ethinc/national origin, gender, age, disability, or sexual orientation, are not criminal acts. Hostile or hateful speech, or other disrespectful or discriminatory behavior, may be motivated by bias but is not illegal. Such incidents becomes crimes only when they directly incite perpetrators to commit violence against persons or property or if they play a potential victim in reasonable fear of physical injury(IACP, 1999).
Law Enforcement and the Victim:
For the most part, perpetrators of hate crimes commit them to intimidate a victim and members of the victim’s community so that the Victims feel isolated, vulnerable, and unprotected by the law. Many victims so not report their attacks to police out of fear and believe their best defense is to remain quit. Other reason for this behavior, in addition to those outlined earlier in this chapter, include.
Att:
Wk8 Presentation Hate Bias Crimes pdf.
Model for Investigating Hate / Bias Crimes
The following are suggested guidelines for law enforcement agencies without standardized protocol for follow-up of hate/ bias crimes and incidents. The suggested formats are based on the size of the department.
Reference:
Shusta, R. M. Levine, D.R., (2010. Multicultural law enforcement: Strategies for peacekeeping in a diverse society. 5th edition. New Jersey: Pearson