Hate crimes are an ongoing issue with no end in sight. Hate crimes do not have to deal with just race, but can and do deal with other issues such as sexual orientation, religion, and disability. The following article will examine what hate crimes are and ways such crimes can be prevented. The group that will be discussed will be the African American group. Each group of individual in the United States has had their share of hate crimes against them, but the key is to learn from them, teach the youth and move on.
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If one were to look at crimes that are based on sexual orientation, the number of crimes is astounding. A hate crime based on one’s sexual orientation is when an individual is bullied, threatened, harassed, or even killed due to his or her sexual likings. For instance, look at Matthew Shepard. He was a gay man who was beaten and tied to a fence post and left for dead, all because he was gay. He was found several days later, but unfortunately he had died as a result of his injuries. The same applies for crimes that are religion and disability based.
One of the biggest hate crimes to strike the United States was the attack on September 11, 2001. This is a day that will forever be burned in the minds of not only Americans, but other cultures and races across the world. A random act of violence (of a target) can have a few different levels. This was a hate crime that not only affected Caucasians, but races from all over the world, and once other races were affected; there was no taking back the damage that had been done. When referencing the factors that serve as victimization many different levels come to mind. If the hate crime is sexual orientation based, the factor(s) would be if the victim is LGBTQ, and with the number of individuals having issues with LGBTQ, the number of crimes is on the rise. Chandler (2012) did a story on a gentleman in Texas who was tied to a truck and drug several miles. He lived through that ordeal, but
References: Chandler, D. L. (2012, June 07). Racist murder of James Byrd Jr. took place on this day in 1998. Retrieved from http://newsone.com/2019388/ Stone, R. (2011, October 25). Can restorative justice balance the scales for African American youth?. Retrieved from http://www.commongroundnews.org/article.php?id=30630&lan=en&sp=1 Winton, R. (2013, October 17). 2 Latinos plead guilty to hate crimes against blacks in Compton. Retrieved from http://articles.latimes.com/2013/oct/17/local/la-me-ln-latino-plead-guilty-hate-crimes-blacks-compton-20131017