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.