When it comes to a crime, deciding if the crime was caused by a bias-motivated offender can be a challenge. Hate crime laws can be enacted but arguments arise do to the fact that many disagree on the laws and how they may violate a persons’ first and fourteenth amendment rights (Gerstenfield, 2013). If a crime is classified as a hate crime, because the offender decided to harm a victim due to the victim’s race, religion, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation or other characteristics than a penalty enhancement can be made. A hate crime is known to have the element of motive in order to have the crime be identified as an actually hate crime (Gerstenfield, 2013) but the motive needs to be acted upon in order for it to be a hate crime. It is
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A bias-motive crime should show that the criminal performed the crime because of hatred towards a specific group (Lawrence, 2003). Proving such element is difficult because it must be the criminal’s way of acting on their thoughts rather than just thinking of bias. Acting on the thought it was gets punished, but courts disagree with the fact that hate crime laws are punishing the thoughts of an individual and therefore violating the first amendment; Freedom of Speech (Gerstenfield, 2013). The first amendment has many exceptions, any one is free to speak what they believe or feel, but some judges get trapped in thinking that hate crimes punish the thought in which they believe it violates the law and therefore disagree in prosecuting a hate crime (Gerstenfield, …show more content…
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has gathered elements to be able to determine when a hate crime has been committed. When reporting a crime, the fact that the offender was biased against the victim’s different characteristics is not enough to consider it a hate crime. It is the criminal act that should be proven to have been motivated, “in whole or in part, by his or her bias” (Law Enforcement Support Section (LESS) Crime Statistics Management Unit (CSMU), 2015). Even though we know a hate crime needs to have a motive, it is not enough evidence to be able to report as a hate crime. The FBI has stated certain guidelines and believes that when a case is found showing some proven elements they are more likely of finding a biased motivated crime. Those guidelines include fourteen different determinations. Some of which are “The offender and the victim were of a different race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, and/or gender identity” or “Bias-related oral comments, written statements, or gestures were made by the offender indicating his or her bias” or that “the victim is a member of a specific group that is overwhelmingly outnumbered by other residents in the neighborhood where the victim lives and the incident took place” (Law Enforcement Support Section (LESS) Crime Statistics Management Unit
A bias-motive crime should show that the criminal performed the crime because of hatred towards a specific group (Lawrence, 2003). Proving such element is difficult because it must be the criminal’s way of acting on their thoughts rather than just thinking of bias. Acting on the thought it was gets punished, but courts disagree with the fact that hate crime laws are punishing the thoughts of an individual and therefore violating the first amendment; Freedom of Speech (Gerstenfield, 2013). The first amendment has many exceptions, any one is free to speak what they believe or feel, but some judges get trapped in thinking that hate crimes punish the thought in which they believe it violates the law and therefore disagree in prosecuting a hate crime (Gerstenfield, …show more content…
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has gathered elements to be able to determine when a hate crime has been committed. When reporting a crime, the fact that the offender was biased against the victim’s different characteristics is not enough to consider it a hate crime. It is the criminal act that should be proven to have been motivated, “in whole or in part, by his or her bias” (Law Enforcement Support Section (LESS) Crime Statistics Management Unit (CSMU), 2015). Even though we know a hate crime needs to have a motive, it is not enough evidence to be able to report as a hate crime. The FBI has stated certain guidelines and believes that when a case is found showing some proven elements they are more likely of finding a biased motivated crime. Those guidelines include fourteen different determinations. Some of which are “The offender and the victim were of a different race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, and/or gender identity” or “Bias-related oral comments, written statements, or gestures were made by the offender indicating his or her bias” or that “the victim is a member of a specific group that is overwhelmingly outnumbered by other residents in the neighborhood where the victim lives and the incident took place” (Law Enforcement Support Section (LESS) Crime Statistics Management Unit