REACHING PEACE FOR YOUTH AND CITIES
Ten Points on
HATE CRIMES

• A hate crime is any criminal act that is motivated by the victim’s race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender or disability.

•  The most common hate crimes are race-based. African Americans are the most frequent victims, although all racial groups have been targeted.

•  Homosexuals are the second-most-targeted group. Crimes against gays tend to be the most violent hate crimes.

•  Most religion-based hate crimes are acts of vandalism and graffiti targeting the Jewish or Islamic communities.

•  The great majority of perpetrators are men.

•  About half of those prosecuted for felony hate crimes are juveniles.

•  White supremacist groups make up only a small percentage of offenders.

•  People often commit hate crimes when they see changes in their community over which they have no control; when they believe that newcomers are competing with them for jobs or status; or when groups they dislike are in the news.

•  Few hate crimes ever make the news. They can be spontaneous or carefully premeditated. Some hate crimes are felonies, while others are misdemeanors. They are insidious because they can be disguised as ordinary robbery or assault—or as juvenile mischief.

•  The Southern Poverty Law Center has identified some 600 hate groups now operating in the United States.
 		 Sadly, hate crimes are often motivated by one or more of the following factors:

racism: “the notion that one’s own ethnic stock is superior; discrimination or prejudice based on racism”

sexism: “discrimination based on sex, especially discrimination against women; attitudes or conditions that promote stereotyping of social roles based on gender”

elitism: “belief in rule by an elite; rule or domination by an elite; a sense of being part of an elite”

discrimination: “an act based on prejudice”

prejudice: “an adverse judgment or opinion formed beforehand or without knowledge or examination of the facts; a preconceived preference or idea; bias; irrational suspicion or hatred of a particular group, race or religion”

homophobia: “fear of homosexuals or homosexuality”

xenophobia: “undue fear or contempt of strangers or foreigners”

fear: “to be anxious or apprehensive about”

hate: “intense dislike or animosity”

—Definitions quoted from the American Heritage Dictionary.

RESOURCES:

Civilrights.org: A Social Justice Network
www.civilrights.org

Stop the Hate.org
www.stopthehate.org 

American Civil Liberties Union
www.aclu.org

Hate Crimes Prevention Project
www.no-hate.org

Partners Against Hate
www.partnersagainsthate.org
 

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