Essay On Causes Of Hate Crimes

A hate crime is defined as any wrong doing perpetrated against a particular group of people. It is a form of prejudice directed at a group of individuals based on their ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, religious preference, or any other defining characteristic. Anytime two different groups of people come in contact with each other, there is the possibility of tension or conflict developing, which often leads to violence. Whether the crime in question is assault, theft, verbal abuse or even murder, the motivation behind it is based on the hatred for a group that is perceived as being different in some way. ("History of Hate Crime - Crime Museum")
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics there are four main causes or purposes to hate crimes. The first and main cause is thrill seeking, most often offenders are driven to find excitement. The next cause is what some of the offenders find self-defense. These people find a group or one person to be harmful to their way of life or belief. Another cause is missionary work, where a person believes they are ridding the world of evil and inferiors. The last factor that motivates these crimes is retaliatory, the belief that action needs to be taken toward another hate crime either witnessed or made up. These causes alone are what make up …show more content…
This can happen when the perpetrator witnesses or hears of another group committing hate crime against the criminal’s own group. By committing the hate crime they can get back at the people who made the first move against them. Most crimes are committed as revenge against members of the group seen as perpetrating the initial hate crime. This category illustrates the dangers hate crimes could play in creating tensions in groups. Communities can be left feeling unsafe because retaliatory crimes negatively affect public safety ("Center for Problem-Oriented