A bias/hate crime is one which occurs when the perpetrator abuses the victim because he/she belongs in a particular social group. The social group here can be gender, race, religion or sexual orientation. Violence caused by this type of hatred creates disharmony especially in a country that is multicultural. Bias-motivated violence is not a new phenomenon has it has always been there and even in great magnitude. As the police continue to fight against these crimes, data collection and documentation is a crucial process that they need to invest. The public too has a role in this by reporting cases to increase the amount of information the law-enforcement body has.
Hate crimes have the potential of increasing at an alarming rate if they are not contained. If a member of the other group attacks a person belonging to a specific social group, then harmony between the two groups ceases. What follows next is retaliation and when intervention fails a great war can begin. Every dispute however small it needs to be addressed by the authorities with immediate effect. The problem that is facing the battle of eradicating hate crime is lack of proper information flow. A platform needs to be created whereby a single incidence reaches to the nearest station and the state and national level. When the police are aware of growing hate crime patterns, they are in a better position to mobilize resources to curb it (Shusta et al., 2015). The victims of bias-motivated violence expect the police to take action on the perpetrators. In case of failure, they may decide to take the law on their own hands, and if the police remain silent, the issue will get out of hand.
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It is vital to distinguish the violence associated with hate crime from other types because of the potential hazard it has. Research has established that hate crimes have a unique quality when it comes to categorizing offences (Perry, 2012). The unique thing about these crimes is that it can lead to injuries, psychological trauma and retaliation which may cross borders. The crimes are also conducted with so much bitterness that leads to severe results. The nature of these crimes calls for specialized solutions, and thus they have to be isolated from other crimes. The police need to deal with seriousness any case of bias crime heard because there is a possibility it may increase. Another nature of hate crimes is that they cause unnecessary hatred between two social groups that even did not participate in the first instance. Treating a bias crime like any other is a way of improper response to it.
Hate-motivated crimes have a severe impact on the victims as compared with other crimes. These crimes also initiate disharmony and hatred in a multicultural community. When the hatred becomes intense, cases of retaliation begin to manifest. It is for this reason that the agencies fighting it need to treat it with greater care. Dealing with it entails responding to even a single case in any part of the nation. For the police to respond to these cases, they need to have an efficient method of collecting and documenting information. The public plays a significant role in notifying the police incidences where hate crime is suspected to be taking place.
Reference
Shusta, R. M., Levine, D. R., Wong, H. Z., Olson, A. T., & Harris, P. R. (2015). Multicultural law enforcement: Strategies for peacekeeping in a diverse society (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Perry, B. (Ed.). (2012). Hate and bias crime: A reader. Routledge.
