Profile of a Hate Crime Offender
Steven Day
Profile of a Hate Crime Offender
Sterilized from emotion, hate crime, also called bias crime, is those offenses motivated in part or singularly by personal prejudice against other because of a diversity-race, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity/national origin, or disability. Hate crimes are committed out of anger, ignorance, and lack of knowledge of another's ideas and beliefs. There are many causes for an individual to commit a hate crime. Also, many different profiles fit the description of a hate crime offender. There are ways to prevent and control hate crimes, but they will always be present in society as long as every person has the right to express his or her opinion.
The term hate crime first appeared in the late 1980's as a way of understanding a racial incident in the Howard Beach section of New York City, in which a black man was killed while attempting to evade a violent mob of white teenagers, shouting racial epithets. Although widely used by the federal government of the United States, the media, and researchers in the field, the term is somewhat misleading because it suggests incorrectly that hatred is invariably a distinguishing characteristic of this type of crime. While it is true that many hate crimes involve intense animosity toward the victim, many others do not. Conversely, many crimes involving hatred between the offender and the victim are not 'hate crimes' in the sense intended here. For example an assault that arises out of a dispute between two white, male co-workers who compete for a promotion might involve intense hatred, even though it is not based on any racial or religious differences between them. Similarly, a love-triangle resulting in manslaughter may provoke intense emotions, having nothing at all to do with race or religion.
Hate crimes are also known by other names. The most commonly employed of such terms is bias crime, perhaps because it accurately emphasizes that such offenses often arise out of prejudice toward another group of individuals. In addition, Howard Ehrlich (1990), director of the Prejudice Institute at Townson State University has coined the term ethno-violence to include acts that do not arise to the legal standard of a crime, but contain an element of prejudice. These hate incidents may, for example, include the use of ethnic slurs or the exclusion of members of targeted groups from social activities at the workplace.
From a psychological perspective, "prejudice" refers to a negative attitude toward individuals based on their perceived group membership--for example, their race, religion, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. Though as a form of discriminatory behavior, hate crimes often have an attitudinal dimension, the relationship between prejudice and criminal behavior tends to be complex. There is reason to believe that certain hate offenses result from some personal bias or hatred. In the extreme case, a hatemonger may join an organized group in order to devote his life to destroying a group of people he considers "inferior."
At times, certain prejudices ...
This is a preview of the whole essay
From a psychological perspective, "prejudice" refers to a negative attitude toward individuals based on their perceived group membership--for example, their race, religion, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. Though as a form of discriminatory behavior, hate crimes often have an attitudinal dimension, the relationship between prejudice and criminal behavior tends to be complex. There is reason to believe that certain hate offenses result from some personal bias or hatred. In the extreme case, a hatemonger may join an organized group in order to devote his life to destroying a group of people he considers "inferior."
At times, certain prejudices become narrowly targeted. Because behavioral scientists have enthusiastically examined such structural issues, they may have been surprised when advocacy groups suggested that hate violence was on the rise. Like church burnings, hate crimes in general are typically committed by individuals without links to any organized groups. More than 53 percent of these thrill offenses were committed by two or more offenders looking for trouble in the victim's neighborhood. One surprising finding was the extent of the violence associated with thrill hate attacks. Thrill hate crimes are committed by offenders who are looking for excitement. In a thrill-seeking hate crime, there need not be a precipitating incident. Not all hate offenses are motivated by thrill or excitement; not every hate crime is committed by groups of teenagers. As with thrill hate attacks, most defensive hate offenses reported to the police involve white offenders who did not know their Asian, Latino, or Black victims. In defensive crimes, the majority were committed by a single offender.
Whereas in thrill-motivated hate crimes a group of teenagers travels to another area to find victims, the perpetrators in defensive hate crimes typically never leave their own neighborhood, school, or workplace. In thrill hate crimes, almost any member of a vulnerable group will usually "do" as a target. In contrast, the perpetrators of defensive hate crimes tend to target a particular individual or set of individuals who are perceived to constitute a personal threat--the black family that has just moved into the all white neighborhood, the white college student who has begun to date her Asian classmate, or the Latino who has recently been promoted at work. Just as in thrill hate crimes, the offenders in defensive attacks are not necessarily associated with any organized hate group. Typically, the perpetrators have no prior history of either crime or overt bias. Typical of such hate crimes is the case of Purnell Daniels, a 41-year-old black engineer whose house was located in a mostly white section of Newark, Delaware. Defensive hate crimes are generally aimed against particular "outsiders"-those who are regarded as posing a personal challenge to a perpetrator's workplace, neighborhood, or physical well-being. On occasion, hate crimes go beyond what their perpetrators consider reaction, at least in the narrow sense. Mission hate-crime offenders are likely to join an organized group such as the KKK or the White Aryan Resistance. Mission hate offenses are not nearly as common as the other types of hate crimes. The statement is consistent with recent estimates that no more than 5 percent of all hate crimes in the United States involve organized hate groups.
A few perpetrators of mission hate crimes operate alone and typically suffer from a profound mental illness which may cause hallucinations, impaired ability to reason, and withdrawal from contact with other people. The growing presence of hate groups is hardly confined to the United States, but has occurred around the world. White supremacy groups encourage, and in certain cases even train, the 3500 racist skinheads who have been responsible for perpetrating violence against people of color, Jews, gays, and other vulnerable. Most have no formal ties with white supremacy groups, although they may be inspired by such organizations.
White supremacist groups represent a fringe element among those who commit hate crimes. Most Americans are at least somewhat acquainted with the objectives of white hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazis. Followers of such white supremecy groups as John and Tom Metzger's White Aryan Resistance (WAR) have shed their sheets and burning crosses in favor of more conventional attire. Members of the movement also believe in the inevitability of a global war between the races which only white people will ultimately survive. Interviews with victims of hate violence indicate that the aftermath of the victimization is characterized by a pervasive feeling of fear. In order to reduce fear in victims of hate crimes, it is important to offer them some form of protection from future violence and a degree of reassurance that they are valued members of the community. Interviews with hate crime offenders indicate that they frequently believe that most of the community shares their desire to eliminate the "outsider." It is important, therefore, to apprehend youthful hate crime perpetrators at this point, especially in light of the possibility that many property offenders who go undetected may later graduate to hate crimes directed against people. The local police play an essential role in responding to hate crimes. Advocacy groups can offer support and encouragement, and political leaders can offer reassurance, but the police are the only group that can legitimately promise to protect the victim in any future attack. Before law enforcement personnel can effectively offer this protection to victims of hate crimes, however, they must be trained to identify and investigate these difficult cases. Many American prisons now have organized hate groups--e.g., Aryan Brotherhood--from which white supremacy groups recruit their members. Anyone convicted of committing a hate crime will be tempted to join an organized hate group in prison, if only for the protection he will need to survive.
When a hate crime occurs, victims quite realistically wonder just how widespread is the hatred directed towards them. Even if they were not labeled hate crimes, offenses committed against individuals because they are different have undoubtedly occurred throughout the history of humankind. In particular, hate crimes seem to rise whenever one group in a society feels that its advantaged position is being threatened by the presence of another. Recent behavioral science research aimed at understanding the causes and characteristics of hate crimes may in part reflect a worsening of inter-group relations during the 1980's and early 1990's, as traditionally disadvantaged groups begin to make claims for equal treatment. In addition, however, such efforts to explain hate crimes probably also reflect a heightened sensitivity to violence perpetrated against vulnerable members of society--especially women, gays, and people of color.
References
Ehrlich, Howard, The Social Psychology of Prejudice (New York: Wiley, 1972).
Ehrlich, Howard, "Ethno-Violence on College Campuses," (Baltimore: National Institute Against Prejudice and Violence, 1990).
Fox, James and Jack Levin Overkill: Mass Murder and Serial Killing Exposed (New York: Dell, 1996).
Freeman, Steven, "Hate Crime Laws: Punishment Which Fits the Crime," Annual Survey of American Law (New York: New York University School of Law, 1993); pp. 581-585.
Hamm, Mark S. Hate Crime: International Perspectives on Causes and Control (Anderson: Cincinnati, 1994).
Jacobs, James B. and Jessica S. Henry, "The Social Construction of a Hate Crime Epidemic," The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology (Winter 1996); 366-391.
Jacobs, James B. and Kimberly A. Potter "Hate Crimes: A Critical Perspective," Crime and Justice: A Review of Research, Ed. Michael Tonry (University of Chicago Press: Chicago, 1997).
