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What Is the Meaning of this Symbol?
Swastika
• Ancient symbol used for over 3,000 years meaning “good to be…” (good luck)
• Many different – positive connotations used by many cultures
• Hitler, a frustrated artist, was responsible for propaganda development for National Socialist Party; in 1920 he selected the swastika as an emblem of racial purity …”eternally anti-Semitic”
HATE / BIAS MOTIVATED CRIMES
DEFINITION
“…Criminal offenses motivated by hatred against a victim based on his or her race, religion, sexual orientation, handicap, ethnicity, or national origin.”
BJA Monograph: A Policymaker’s Guide to Hate Crimes (November 1999)
Revised Code of Washington RCW 9A.36.080
“Malicious Harassment”
Maliciously & intentionally causes:
• Physical injury• Physical damage to property• Threatens/puts a person in reasonable fear of injury to
person or property• Class C Felony
Victim Status Required by RCW
• Race• Color• Religion• Ancestry• National Origin• Gender• Sexual Orientation• Handicap
History
• Early Romans persecuted the Christians
• 1940’s: Nazi’s extermination of 6.5 million Jews referred to as the “final solution”
• 1994: Genocide in Rwanda (Tutsis v. Hutus – “tribal warfare” resulting in 850,000 deaths)
• 1995-97: “Ethnic cleansing” in Bosnia (murder, rape, expulsion of Bosnian citizens)
Significance of Hate Crimes
• One crime targets every member of that group
• “Psychological impact” is felt by all members of that group
• Community stability is lessened
• Retaliation and counter-retaliation can occur
Victims In United States
• African Americans (most frequent target)
• Jewish population
• Gays
• Muslims (9/11)
• Asian Americans India (intellect, economic, outsourcing)
• Federal government workers
Individual Perpetrators
• Scapegoat mentality ((intellect, economic, outsourcing…)
• View their targets as threats to safety and property values
• “Thrill seekers” – randomly select their victims, minority status is interchangeable, act on impulse
• “Mission Offenders” –though a minority, believe they are on a mission to rid the world of a perceived “evil”
Psychology of the Perpetrator
• “The criminal invokes race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation as a pretext for doing whatever he wants. He is no stranger to assault, robbery, or rape to begin with. Victimizing a person from a particular group that he professes to dislike heightens the excitement and increases the satisfaction. …There is nothing unique about the psychology of hate-crime perpetrators. They are criminals just like any other.”
Stanton E. Samenow, Ph. D., Inside The Criminal Mind (2003)
Hate Crime Statistics
• Meaningful statistics are difficult to establish
• Hate crimes are typically underreported
Problems With Statistics
• Many LE agencies lack staff, inclination, or technical expertise to report statistics
• Certain communities “underreport” to preserve cultural, political, and economic stability
• Victims reluctant to report to avoid humiliation (loss of dignity), fear of being “outed,” fear of deportation, and no trust in public officials-authority
Characteristics of Hate Crime
• Most crimes are committed by strangers
• Most likely to involve physical assault
• More likely to result in physical injury caused by “imprecise weapons of opportunity (bricks, bats, tree limbs)
Climate of “Hate”
• Shock radio• Racial stereotypes on TV and in movies• Racial “code” language• Personal Experiences
Trigger Incidents
• Rodney King incident – acquittal of four police officers caused 1992 Los Angeles riots
• Post 9/11 Mosque Burnings
Patriot / White Supremacist Movement
• Neo-Nazi’s
• Klansman
• Montana Freeman (Constitutionalist)
• Anti-abortion radicals
A Shift In Strategy
• Disclaimers for their members to not commit crimes
• Cyber-culture• Underground books• Magazines• Music
Rock Against Communism (RAC)
• Misrepresents its target and has a largely white supremacist, anti-Semitic message
• “White Power” music
Music September 2004
• Educator Alert! Hate Music Label Targets Schools
This is to alert you to an issue with deeply troubling implications for our nation’s schools. Panzerfaust, a white power music company based in Minnesota, plans to target youth through the distribution of 100,000 racist and anti-Semitic CDs to schools and other locations throughout the United States.