Hate Crimes in United States - Free Essay Example

Hate crimes still exist in todays society in the United States and around the world. History is slowly repeating itself in the world we live in. Although we do have the history behind hate crimes, we still need to educate our community we live in and as well as our society. Hate crimes is a ‘criminal act that is motivated by a group that the victim is affiliated with (Gerstenfeld 2018). Hate crimes fall into many classifications such as race, gender identity, religion, disability and other factors as well. In the history with hate crimes sometimes there are sometimes overlapping factors. A good example would be the holocaust. While in History we are taught that the Holocaust was the discrimination of Jews which would be a hate crime on the other hand it is also terrorism. Some hate crimes have a blurred line when it comes to this because terrorism is defined as the use of unlawful intimidation against civilians in the pursuit of a motive or gain. Another example of a hate crime is a Louisiana man pled guilty for shooting three men who were African American men because they were black. In 2005, in the event of Hurricane Katrina three men were walking down the street to be evacuated. When the three African American males passed the barricade, they were all shot. The shooter proceeded to tell people anything coming up this street darker than a brown paper bag is getting shot (Justice.gov 2018) This is a good example hate crime against race and color. The reason why this is classified as a hate crime is because of the forced used and it was motivated by one individual to commit these crimes. These three arguments of why we have hate crimes are retribution, deterrence and symbolic efforts (Gerstenfeld). Retribution puts hate laws in a different bracket from traditional rule breaking. Hates laws have a more emotional and physiological impact on the human mind. Deterrence is having laws in place for people who do commit Hates crimes. In Kansas hate crimes towards an individual can give you a sentence of 10 years. Symbolic Efforts are to teach social norms to a community or society that is impacted by these crimes (Gerstenfeld 2018). The main arguments that surround hate crimes are weather these laws are necessary. Each human should know the moral right and the wrong. So, is it worth having another thing added to the justice system? The other side says yes, we need this because some of this hate crimes do not fall into another category unless we push for murder or assault. These protections for hate crimes are needed for our society. Every hate crime needs to be taken seriously and handled with care. I agree there needs to be a norm to teach in our community. We are the melting pot of America. I love that because there are so many traditions to learn about from so many people. It apart of our history and our culture. Now with hate crimes unfortunately being a part of our history and progressing forward with hate crimes increasing why should we let history repeat itself? Shouldn’t we repair a community or a broken society and help the younger generations understand that no matter what race, color, origin or religion one has we are all human. Sources: 1. Hate Crimes Case Examples. (2018, November 26). Retrieved from https://www.justice.gov/hatecrimes/hate-crimes-case-examples 2. Gerstenfeld, P. B. (2017). Hate crimes: Causes, controls, and controversies. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications.