Hate Crime as a Core Subject of Criminology Essay

One of the core subjects of Criminology is “Hate Crime”. This issue should be defined and discussed in order to be understood and seriously taken into consideration. This subject may be provided with a legalistic which states that the hate crimes actually manifest proof of prejudice based on the issues of race, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation. This definition is used by most of the states which introduced hate crime legislation.

It is important to mention in this context that the issues which constitute a hate crime distinguish greatly between different jurisdictions. For example, talking about the territory of the United States, it is necessary to mention that there are some huge differences on such problematic issues as the way of definition of the bias, measuring of the victims’ classes protection, and also – the expend of bias motivation needed for classification.

It is significant to define hate crime in this context. It might be understood as a certain process rather than an event. “It does not occur in a cultural or social vacuum, nor is it “over” when the perpetrator moves on” (Bowling, 1993, p.242). That is why hate crime should be defined in a certain way as to give the special term “life” and meaning, as a situated in society and dynamic process which involves both: actors and context, agency and structure.

It should be said that hate crime influences both: social and historical context; also relationships between certain actors and between entire communities. Following these, the understanding of hate crime is promoted by a definition that admits the ways in which this selected category of violence contributes to the relative scheme of identities, in the context of a framework of specified connections of power.

The upper given information enables different critics and researchers to understand that bias-motivated violence can not be considered as “abnormal” or “anomalous” Western world cultures. It should be regarded rather as a certain natural extension of the issues of racism, homophobia, and sexism that basically stations specific privilege along lines of race and gender. As bright expressions of hate, the acts of wide intimidation always “involve the assertion of selves over others constituted as other” (Goldberg, 1995, p.269). Following this, it might be said that in the given situation the self is considered to constitute the existed norm.

Hate crime not only reflects the relationship between the exact participants of the crime but also reflects the relationship between some different communities they actually belong to. The main objectives here are: to create fear, suspicion, and hostility in any community. Thus, the main aim in the hate crime is not just to subordinate the victim, but basically to repress the victim’s community.

There can be provided a lot of examples concerning the problem of hate crime issues. Some of them are closely related to the Louisville of the Kentucky State. For example, there was a situation when gay victims actually feared that the admission of their own victimization was the following confession of their sexual orientation. By making the report on anti-gay sexual crime to the police they actually felt that they “uncovered” themselves because of the possibility to be violated again (this time by the police officials).

Another common example is related to the undocumented Mexican laborers that may fear the consequences of their status being revealed. Following these examples, it might be said that victims might be feared by law enforcement officials.

In conclusion, it should be pointed out that the main goal of hate crime theory is to categorize existing forms of violence with a view to the psychological, cultural, and political conditions. Such studies “seek to understand the psychological causes that compel people to commit hate crimes. Sometimes these causes are sought in enduring psychological orientations or propensities; in other cases, hate crime is said to arise because individuals with certain kinds of beliefs and aversions find themselves in situations where these psychological attributes are brought to the fore” (Green, 200, p. 484).

In the context of hate crime, there should be outlined basic accounts that influence it greatly: historical-cultural, political, sociological, synthetic, and economic.

It must be noted that such assumptions as hate crime offenses are totally uncommon in their causes and effects, especially if comparing to their non – bias-motivated counterparts. Here might be pointed out basic interrelated dimensions of the influence of hate crime both on collectives and on individuals. These dimensions are categorized in the following way:

1. Impact on immediate victims;
2. Impact on other members of the victim’s group;
3. Impact on the national community.

Finally, it is necessary to remind that hate crimes are considered “message crimes” that are intended to make suffer all members of the community of the victim, to spread the collective fear within the victim’s cultural or ethnic group. Such means can be regarded as a real threat to the entire human society and for the world’s peace, security, and legal order. That is why there should be found more effective ways of legal fighting against hate crimes.

References

Bowling, B. (1993). Racial Harassment and the Process of Victimization. Journal of Criminology, 33(2), 231-250.

Goldberg, D. T., (1995). Afterword: Hate or Power?: In Rita Kirk Whillock and Slayden, D. eds. Hate Speech (pp. 267-276). Thousand Oaks, CA.

Green, D., McFalls, L. and Smith, J. (2001). Hate Crime: An Emergent Agenda. Annual Review of Sociology, 27: 479-504.