Introduction
Hatred refers to a deeply rooted emotional detest that an individual has against other people, ideas, or material objects. Hatred usually results from anger or a negative experience that a person has undergone. Emotions of hatred result into hate crimes and children are not an exception. A number of juveniles have been convicted of hate crime cases in various states of America, as well as, other parts of the world.
Hate crimes refer to criminal offenses, which are “motivated partly or entirely by a perception that the victim is different from the perpetrator”). Some of the differences that can lead to hate crimes include differences in race, gender, social status, and disability. This paper examines hate among juveniles. It also explores how juveniles develop hatred and the reasons why they are engaged in hate crimes.
How Juveniles Develop Hatred
Children learn emotions of hatred as they grow up. In their early stages of development, children learn through observation. A majority of children are usually keen to observe how people relate with one another, as well as, how their elders treat and relate to those who are different from them in terms of color, gender, and religion. Therefore, through observation children learn how to relate with others either in a positive or negative way.
For instance, a child who is exposed to hatred at an early age is likely to exhibit similar emotions. Consequently, children who have developed feelings of hatred usually direct the hate feelings towards their peers who are different from them.
Children also develop feelings of hatred by interacting with their peers at school. Most of the hate crimes committed by juveniles, results from hate groups formed at school. Members of the hate groups generally make their peers to believe that those who are different from them ought to be treated in a particular manner.
In most instances, the victims are harassed, assaulted, and intimidated because they are different from the rest. Victims of hate crimes develop similar feelings of hatred towards the perpetrators because of harsh treatment from their peers.
However, some elements of hatred in children can be termed as normal. For instance, “passing from one emotional state to another and expressing some intense emotional states is normal especially after puberty, when the mind goes through an extremely difficult period towards forming its personality” . Therefore, some children may portray emotions of hatred that does not result from prejudicial attitudes.
Nevertheless, teachers and parents should be keen to monitor the emotions of the children because intense emotions of hatred can affect their social relations with peers and other people. Psychologists consider it relatively normal for a child to develop feelings of hatred towards authoritarian parents or teachers who punish them more often and rarely reward them.
However, “when this hatred manifests itself through certain deviant and frequent acts, parents, teachers or those in authority must raise an alarm and communicate with the child, to find out what difficulties he is encountering and propose solutions” . Failure to address such problems might result into deviant acts, which are criminal.
Types of Hate Crimes among Juveniles
A number of children engage in hate crimes because of a number of reasons. For example, hate crimes can result from the desire to have thrill, for retaliatory purposes, and mission based purposes. However, for any type of hate crime the underlying factor for its cause is usually the differences in terms of race, religion, ethnicity, and gender that exist between the victims and the propagators of the hate crime.
Thrill Hate Crimes
Juveniles especially teenagers engage in hate crimes in order to satisfy their desire to have thrill or excitement. Most of the White teenage males involve themselves in hate crimes in order to have fun. Some of them engage in hate crimes even though they do not have any knowledge of the victims.
Latinos, Africans, and Asians are more prone to the hate crimes as opposed to the Whites. A good number of the thrill hate crimes involve assaulting of the victims or brutal attacks, which often results into hospitalization of the victims.
In the thrill hate crimes, the perpetrators invade their victims who are different from them. The reward for the “perpetrators is psychological, as well as, social”. The perpetrators usually aim at gaining control, having fun and receiving approval from their peers.
Defensive Hate Crimes
Juveniles also engage in hate crimes for defensive purposes. In most instances, the hate crimes are triggered by incidents, which act as catalysts for engaging in actions of hatred. Individuals commit most of the defensive hate crimes. The offenders feel justified for their defensive actions against those who are different from them. Some of the defensive hate actions can be physical assaults, or harassing language.
Retaliatory Hate Crimes
Retaliatory hate crimes results from the desire to revenge. In most instances, victims of a hate crime propagate the retaliatory hate crimes. An individual or a group can conduct a retaliatory hate crime. On several occasions, the attack is often conducted indiscriminately. For example, a group of teenagers who had previously been victims of a hate crime can single out any person from the target group.
Mission Hate Crimes
These hate crimes are instigated by a person or a group of people who believe that they are obligated to eliminate a particular group of people who are different from them. In a school set up, children can engage in a mission to eliminate their classmates, and peers whom they believe are different from them in terms of race, religion, and social status. The main objective is to make their environments a better place by eliminating the outcasts.
Hate crimes, which are mission based often leads to the creation of hate groups. Hate groups serve as a voice of the people and conduct hate mission attacks against their victims.
Hate groups can cause adverse effects especially in a school set up. Juveniles who form part of hate groups might make life unbearable for their schoolmates who are different from them. Therefore, school authority should always undermine any form of grouping amongst students that propagate hatred on prejudicial basis.
Consequences of Hate among Juveniles
Children who fall victims of hate crimes usually develop importunate feelings of fear. This can be attributed to the fact that most victims of hate crime are usually not aware of what they are required to do in order to avoid future victimization. Therefore, school authorities should protect children who have been victimized based on their race, ethnicity, religion, or gender. They should also reassure such students that they are valuable.
Victims of hate crimes especially children, normally develop low self-esteem because their peers perceive them as inferior. Consequently, the victims might be affected socially, emotionally, as well as, academically because they will often look down upon themselves. Therefore, it is the responsibility of teachers, parents, and the community at large to help such children believe in themselves.
Juveniles should be discouraged from perpetrating hatred on prejudicial basis because most of them do not have serious commitment to bigotry. Those who are in authority should also hold them accountable for committing hate crimes.
The public should condemn hate crime conducted by juveniles. Educators have the responsibility to take an initiative to reduce hate crime by designing programs, which aim at creating awareness about hate crimes among juveniles and the repercussions.
Conclusion
From the above discussion, it can be concluded that most juveniles develop emotions of hatred through their interactions with their peers and from their elders. A number of juveniles also engage in hate crimes for various reasons such as thrill, retaliation, and defense purposes.
Therefore, those in authority should guide children of various age groups on how to relate with their peers who are different from them. Parents are required to act as role models to their children. This will enable the children to develop the right attitude towards people who are different from them.
References
Altschiller, D. (2005). Hate crimes: A reference handbook. Chicago: Chicago University Press.
Jacob, J., & Potter, K. (2000). Hate crimes: Criminal law and identity politics. London, England: Oxford University Press.
Levesque, R. (2011). Encyclopedia of adolescence. New York, NY: Springer.