The United States is currently facing what could be viewed as a crisis due to the high rates of hate crimes experienced in the region. To a great extent, the foundations of hate crime can be traced back to history when slavery was practiced. Many individuals of color would experience discrimination, violence and inhumane treatment at the mercy of the whites. This trend has transcended time and has eventually evolved to hate crimes that riddle the United States. Hate crimes are those that manifest as prejudice on the basis of one’s race, gender, religion or ethnicity. With the world evolving and many individuals choosing to live out of society’s dictation of the aforementioned aspects, it is highly likely that the rest of society will discriminate them because they seem different and wayward. It is therefore prudent to delve into available statistics on hate crimes in the US as this will help shade light on the magnitude of these offenses by and against Americans.
A hate crime is an offense that targets an individual because of their race, sexual orientation, religious affiliation and ethnicity ( Cheng et al., 2013) . The US is a highly diverse society as dictated by the many individuals who come from different parts of the world to seek a better life. The presence of the significantly diverse individuals means that hate crimes are somewhat a norm in the American society. As an alarming aspect of the US and a significant infringement on the rights and freedoms of others, the government has throughout history developed and advanced laws that fight against law crimes ( Cheng et al., 2013) . Law enforcement bodies like the police or the FBI and other activist groups are also actively involved in the fight against hate crimes but a significant change in statistics is yet to be seen.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has throughout time ensured to research on and present statistics on the occurrences and reporting of hate crimes in the US and one can recognize some trends (FBI: UCR, n.d.) . It is undeniable that the rates of hate crimes have eventually reduced over time but the occurrences remain significantly high to warrant continued research and development of policies to ensure they reduce and are eventually eradicated. According to the FBI website on hate crime statistics factors that can motivate hate crime include religion, race/ethnicity/ancestry, disability, gender identity, gender and sexual orientation.
The 2019 statistics indicate that a total of seven thousand three hundred and fourteen incidences of hate crimes were reported. More than eight thousand five hundred hate crime offenses were reported, these crimes affected over eight thousand eight hundred victims and there were six thousand four hundred and six known offenders (FBI: UCR, n.d.) . The figures are demonstrated in the chart below
Source; https://ucr.fbi.gov/hate-crime/2019/topic-pages/tables/table-1.xls
These statistics are demonstrative of how rampant hate crimes are in the US. Seven thousand incidences are immense considering that more that eight thousand individuals were victims. Many of these victims suffer physical and emotional trauma and need care to recover. In some instances, these incidences are fatal leaving families in turmoil over the loss of their loved one.
Race/Ethnicity/Ancestry
From the statistics, at least four thousand nine hundred individuals suffered racial/ethnic/ancestral bias with up to three thousand five hundred and fifty known offenders. Of these, the highest rates, two thousand three hundred and ninety-one were experienced by African-Americans while the least, twenty-six experienced by native Hawaiians or Pacific Islanders (FBI: UCR, n.d.) . The prevalence as per race/ethnicity/ancestry are presented in the chart below;
Source; https://ucr.fbi.gov/hate-crime/2019/topic-pages/tables/table-1.xls
Source: https://ucr.fbi.gov/hate-crime/2019/topic-pages/tables/table-1.xls
As is evident, African-Americans presented the highest number of victims of hate crimes. The trend has been similar throughout history with many blacks being targeted because of their race. Research indicates that some factors that may be motivating hate crimes against black include poor financial circumstances, race-based advertisements, racial stereotypes as presented by the media, unemployment ( Cheng et al., 2013) . Further, the US continually exhibits a growing acceptance of racial prejudice and this further extubates the number of offenses and eventually the victims ( Cheng et al., 2013) . Overall, victims of hate racial, ethnic/ancestral hate crimes lament that personal targeting and being aware that their identify makes them vulnerable brings about fear in their lives. They cannot freely lead normal lives with the thought that they might experience a hate crime because of their race. Advancing in live therefore becomes a little bit more difficult than those individuals who do not have to be worried about being victims of hate crimes.
A recent example of hate crime based on race occurred in Indiana on the 18 th of June 2020. Hoehn, a fifty-year-old Caucasian man was accused of a racially motivated hate crime when he intimated and threated his black neighbor who had construction workers remove a tree from his property (Department of Justice, n.d.) . Hoehn planted a burned cross above the fence that was facing his neighbor’s house, displayed a sigh that contained numerous anti-black slurs on the same fence and created and placed a swastika at the same place (Department of Justice, n.d.) . He was sued and charged for a racially instigated crime.
Religion
Hate crimes are also perpetrated on the basis of one’s religion. Unlike race and ethnicity bias whose statistics are higher, bias due to religion reported one thousand seven hundred and fifteen victims in 2019 with one thousand and thirty-two of these being Jews. The most victimized individuals were the Jews with the Buddhist community reporting the lowest victim rates of five (FBI: UCR, n.d.) . The rate of hate crimes based on religion is presented in the chart below;
Source: https://ucr.fbi.gov/hate-crime/2019/topic-pages/tables/table-1.xls
Source: https://ucr.fbi.gov/hate-crime/2019/topic-pages/tables/table-1.xls
As is evident, hate crimes based on religion are more profound against the Jews than many would assume. Since many of the highlighted crimes occur against Muslims, the obvious conclusion would be that the highest number of victims would be Muslims. Nonetheless, statistics throughout history indicate that many of the victims of hate crimes are usually Jews with Muslims following second (FBI: UCR, n.d.) . Buddhists are the least affected religious group. Nonetheless, all victims of hate crime by religion suffer immense psychological distress with some being harmed physically or even being killed.
For instance, Christopher Rascoll was arrested on 26 th of June 2020 in New York for allegedly threatening his Jewish victim via text messages. The perpetrator sent a series of several messages and threatened to kill the victim and also burn his car and house (Department of Justice, n.d.) . It is during the first day of Hanukkah, a Jewish ceremony, that the messages were sent. It is indicative that the messages were religiously instigated. In some of the messages, the perpetrator stated outright that he was going to kill the victim and asked him to leave his house before the easter weekend because if he was not gone by then, Rascoll would stick the victims head in the oven or shoot him (Department of Justice, n.d.) . Such sentiments are evidence of the amount of hate that was held by the perpetrator towards the victim and if he was not prevented, he would have eventually fulfilled his statements.
It is undeniable that victims of religious hate crimes will suffer immense distress as they fear for their lives. Some may not have the chance to report as they are attacked without being warned and in some instances killed. Prevention of such crimes would be the best way to ensure that victims are not afraid of being singled out based solely on their religion and that they are granted the freedom to engage in their preferred religious affiliations without fear.
Sexual Orientation
Hate crimes are also carried out based on one’s sexual orientation. This represents sexual identities that are viewed to be outside of society’s norm of heterosexuality. Victims of hate crime due to sexual orientation will identify as bisexual, lesbian, gay or transgender. Those who identify as heterosexual could also be victims based on their orientation. Statistics of 2019 indicate that there were one thousand four hundred and twenty-nine total victims of hate crimes due to sexual orientation. These are presented in the chart below;
Source: https://ucr.fbi.gov/hate-crime/2019/topic-pages/tables/table-1.xls
Specifically, eight hundred and eighty-three victims identified as gay and this was the highest number of victims while the lowest was those who identified as heterosexual at nineteen. These crimes will involve targeting individuals with varied sexual orientations to exposing them to acts of crime. One incident was perpetrated by two men from Texas, Daryl Henry and Pablo Ceniceros-Deleon who targeted gay men through a dating app and lured them to an empty apartment and different areas around Dallas (Department of Justice, n.d.) . They then exposed these men to hate crimes such as sexual assault, kidnapping, carjacking, robbery and much more (Department of Justice, n.d.) . The chart below shows hate crime rates due to specific sexual orientation;
Source: https://ucr.fbi.gov/hate-crime/2019/topic-pages/tables/table-1.xls
It is evident that people in the US are vulnerable to varied forms of hate crime based solely on them being different from what is viewed as ‘normal’ in society are being part of a group that is not the majority. These crimes will be committed based on race/ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender, disability and much more. Victims are suffering even when such cases are reported and in some extreme instances, they lose their lives. Policies are in place to help curb such crimes but more needs to be done ensure that all Americans feel safe and protected.
References
Cheng, W., Ickes, W., & Kenworthy, J. B. (2013). The phenomenon of hate crimes in the United States. Journal of Applied Social Psychology , 43 (4), 761-794.
Department of Justice. Hate Crimes Case Examples . Justice.gov. Retrieved 20 March 2021, from https://www.justice.gov/hatecrimes/hate-crimes-case-examples.
FBI: UCR. Hate Crime Statistics . FBI. Retrieved 20 March 2021, from https://ucr.fbi.gov/hate-crime/2019/topic-pages/tables/table-1.xls.
