Hate crimes refer to crimes whose motivation is prejudice. These forms of crimes are also referred to as bias-motivated crimes and have unprecedented impacts on the security of individuals, communities, and societies ( Oakley, 2005 ; Breen & Nel , 2011; Ellis & Hall , 2010) . This implies that by responding effectively to hate crimes, societies are better positioned to prevent escalation of such crimes in which case they would pose serious security challenges. For instance, in extreme cases, hate crimes fuel wars both across and within national borders. It is worth noting that while bias and prejudice form the basis for hate crimes, the two are directed towards certain groups of individuals. Thus, for an offense to be considered a hate crime, it has to meet two vital criteria ( Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe [OSCE], 2010) . Firstly, the act in question has to be considered an offense based on criminal law. Secondly, it has to be motivated significantly by bias. Bias motivations, in this regard, can be defined broadly as stereotypical assumptions, preconceived negative views, and hatred or intolerance directed towards a particular group that shares various characteristics. These characteristics may include religion, race, language, nationality, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, or any other vital characteristic. In some instances, such groups as individuals with disabilities may suffer considerably from hate crimes. Against this background, this paper seeks to explore hate crimes, with a focus on special victim populations.
Understanding Hate Crime
Hate crimes can take various forms. These include damage to property, threat, murder, assault and any other criminal offense that is committed owing to a bias motivation. Hate crime does not affect members of specific groups only. Instead, property or people that are only associated with, or perceived to be members of a group that bears protected characteristics such as community centers, human right defenders, or places of worship are also likely to be hate crime targets. Hate crimes also happen everywhere ( Ellis & Hall , 2010) . This means that all societies are susceptible to the impacts of intolerance and prejudice. Hate crimes perpetrated at the individual level often act as seeds of potential conflicts. This is because they are likely to escalate in terms of levels and numbers of acts of violence. Thus, for any possible cycles of violence to be stopped, it is essential for responsible entities to understand hate crimes and take firm and appropriate measures. For a person to perpetrate hate crime, he or she does not necessarily need to feel hate. Rather, as long as the crime is committed due to bias motivation, it becomes a hate crime. This implies that an individual holds prejudiced ideas about a certain group or person. Since this crime is committed owing to what the target group, person, or property, the perpetrator may not have any feelings towards the victim or group of victims.
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The correct identification of a hate crime is important in finding the most appropriate solution. In pursuit of this, it is essential to pay attention to the bias indicators. These indicators refer to single or multiple facts that suggest that bias motivation may be the reason that the crime was committed ( Breen & Nel , 2011) . The indicators offer the objective criteria via which one can judge the perpetrator's probable motive. However, they don't necessarily prove that the actions of an offender were motivated by bias. Bias indicators ought to be used in deciding whether or not to further investigate the perpetrator's motives and views. Therefore, bias indicator may be useful to prosecutors or the police and aid in determining whether or not a particular reported crime was a hate crime or not. Bias indicators vary from one organization and country to another.
Bias Indicators
There are many likely bias indicators. One important indicator is the witness or victim perception. This indicator pertains to whether or not the witnesses or victim of a crime perceive the incident to have been motivated by bias ( Ellis & Hall , 2010) . Another indicator is the availability of written statements, comments or gestures. In this case, it is vital to establish whether the suspect made any written statements, gestures or comments about the victim's community. Likewise, interested parties would be interested in determining whether the markings, drawings, or symbols were left at the scene of hate crime. In case the target was property, one would need to establish whether the property had a cultural or religious significance. Examples of such properties include cemeteries or historical monuments.
Gender, racial, cultural or ethnic differences also act as important bias indicator ( Ellis & Hall , 2010) . Important information with regard to this indicator is whether the victim and suspect differ in terms of national or ethnic, religious, or racial background. The same applies to their sexual orientation. History of animosity between the suspect's and victim's group should also be explored. Likewise, concerned agencies should pay attention to whether or not the victim is a member of a group that is significantly outnumbered by a rival group in the location where the incident took place. Further, establishing whether the victim was in the process of promoting his or her group when the incident took place is vital. Lastly, the date of occurrence of the incident is essential. Attention should be paid to crimes that take place during a national day or religious holiday.
Organized hate groups are also considered important bias indicators. In this regard, the most important information is whether the items or object left at the scene of crime suggest that it was committed by an extremist or paramilitary nationalist entity. Likewise, this information is useful in determining whether the concerned group is active in the targeted neighborhood. This can be achieved by examining the location for the presence of any leaflets, posters, or graffiti. The other important bias indicator is evidence of previous bias incidences or crimes ( OSCE, 2010) . To quantify this, one has to establish whether similar incidences have been experienced in the same neighborhood and their victims. Specific pieces of information include whether the victim or victims were harassed via phone calls or mail. Also, concerned entities would need to know if the victims were exposed to verbal abuse due to their affiliation to or membership in a certain group. Further, it is important to find out whether the victim was near or in a place or area that is frequented by or commonly associated with a certain group. This could be such establishments as the church, community center, or a place of worship.
Why Hate Crimes Should be Given Special Attention
Hate crimes are different compared to other forms of crime. This is owed to several distinguishing characteristics. Firstly, hate crimes tend to increase over time ( OSCE, 2010) . Since the perpetrators of these crimes believe that their actions are being done on behalf of their larger communities, they often feel that their acts are justified morally. Thus, if the community from which the perpetrator hails does not condemn and impose punishment on the specific hate crimes, other perpetrators are highly encouraged to carry out similar activities while the present perpetrators intensify their destructive actions. Ultimately, cases of hate crimes are bound to increase tremendously. Secondly, hate crimes often tend to escalate ( OSCE, 2010) . In this case, the offenders start by committing only minor offenses. However, with time, they may go on and commit acts that can be considered violent increasingly. This is particularly the case if the perpetrators are not stopped or caught after the first incidence. As a result, any offense whose genesis is bias motivation should be followed by firm responses irrespective of scale. Lastly, hate crimes are often spiral ( OSCE, 2010) . This implies that if a targeted community and victims of the crime feel unprotected by concerned authorities and thus unsafe, they may retaliate and attack members of the community that is responsible for attacking them. Often, this leads to more attacks and creates a spiral of violence which may lead to a complete social breakdown. This is especially the case in countries with a long history of conflict.
Special Victims of Hate Crime
Irrespective of the perpetrator and victim, all hate crimes have to be treated with seriousness. Hate crime can be targeted at anyone. However, the most common victims of hate crime are the minority communities and groups. These groups are defined by sexual orientation, disability, transgender identity, race and religion ( Breen et al., 2016; OSCE, 2010) .
Race and Religious Groups
An incident is considered as religious or racist hate when the victim or anyone else believes that it was done due to prejudice or hostility based on either religion or race ( Breen & Nel , 2011) . Thus, if a victim deems a particular incident as a hate incident, he or she should report and have it recorded as such. A person may be attacked when the perpetrator wrongly believes that he or she belongs to a particular racial group. Moreover, the race or religion that someone’s partner belongs to may be a reason for an attack. A racial group refers to a group of individuals who are defined by their nationality, color, or national or ethnic origin ( Breen et al., 2016) . Notable groups in this regard include Sikhs and Jews; asylum seekers and refugees; and lastly travelers and gypsies. A religious group, on the other hand, refers to a group of individuals that share similar religious beliefs. These could include Christians, Muslims, Hindus or those who don’t believe in religion at all.
The incidences that comprise religious or racist hate vary. Some notable forms include online abuse, physical and verbal abuse, damage to property, bullying, or threatening behavior ( Oakley, 2005 ). Race or religion-based hate crime can take the form of a one-off incident. It also can be part of an ongoing campaign of intimidation or harassment. Interestingly, hate incidents are not solely carried out by strangers. Rather, in some cases, the crimes are executed by neighbors, carers, teachers, friends or other individuals with whom the victim may be familiar. Once religious or racist hate incidences become criminal offenses, they transition into being hate crimes. This implies that any criminal offense can eventually become a religious or racist crime. This is classified as so if the victim was targeted because of hostility or prejudice that is based on religion or race. Even in cases where difficulties exist in showing that a crime was perpetrated owing to religious or race-based hostility, the incident in question remains a crime.
The Disabled Individuals
Often, perpetrators of hate crime target disabled individuals. This can take place anywhere. In some cases, perpetrators of hate crime are well known. However, these acts may be perpetrated by strangers. An action becomes a disability hate crime when the victim or another person beliefs that it took place as a result of prejudice or hostility against disabled individuals in general ( Breen et al., 2016) . In some cases, one may become a victim of a disability hate crime even if he or she is not disabled per se. This takes place when someone is attacked because the perpetrator believes that the victim is disabled even if this is not the case. Similarly, someone may become a victim of disability hate crime due to his or her association with a disabled person. For instance, a parent with a disabled child may be a target. A disability hate crime may take different forms. These include physical or verbal abuse, bullying, teasing, online abuse, threatening behavior, insulting or threatening texts, and finally, damage to property. Likewise, a disability hate crime may be a one-off incident, or it may be a component of an ongoing campaign of intimidation or harassment.
Transgender Individuals and Sexual Orientation-Based Hate Crimes
A person may be hostile or violent towards another owing to the latter’s sexual orientation. This form of hate crime is also referred to as homophobic hate crime ( Breen & Nel , 2011 ). Violent or hostile incidents that take place due to a person’s transgender identity are referred to as transphobic hate incidences. A hate incident is considered transphobic or homophobic if the targeted individual or anyone else thinks that it was carried out due to prejudice or hostility based on transgender identity or sexual orientation. Transgender identity and sexual orientation hate crime pertain to individuals who are either bisexual, gay, lesbian, or transgender. Anyone can become a victim of a transphobic or homophobic hate incident. Similar, to other special groups, someone may be a victim of a transphobic hate crime even if the perpetrator believes that he or she is an LGBT person, whether true or not. Also, one may become a victim of a hate crime due to his or her association with persons belonging to the LGBT community. Transphobic and homophobic hate incidences can assume different forms. Notable among these include bullying, physical or verbal abuse, online abuse, damage to property, teasing, threatening behavior, or physical violence. These forms of crime may manifest as one-off incidences. They may also form part of an ongoing intimidation or harassment campaign. Hate crimes based on sexual orientation often have more psychological impacts on gay men and women compared to other crimes ( Breen et al., 2016).
References
Breen, D., Lynch, I., Nel, J., & Matthews, I. (2016). Hate crime in transitional societies: The case of South Africa. The globalization of hate: Internationalizing hate crime , 126-141.
Breen, D., & Nel, J. A. (2011). South Africa-A home for all: The need for hate crime legislation. South African Crime Quarterly , 38 , 33-43.
Ellis, T., & Hall, N. (2010). Hate crime. The Cambridge Handbook of Forensic Psychology , 511.
Oakley, R. (2005). Policing racist crime and violence. A Comparative Analysis. Vienna: European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia .
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (2010). Understanding Hate Crimes: A Handbook for Bosnia and Herzegovina
