Words: 1411
Hate Crime Analysis Kim Hull CJA/540 Criminological Theory October 13, 2011 Facilitator David Mailloux CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I certify that the attached paper is my original work. I am familiar with, and acknowledge my responsibilities which are part of, the University of Phoenix Student Code of Academic Integrity. I affirm that any section of the paper which has been submitted previously is attributed and cited as such, and that this paper has not been submitted by anyone else.
I have identified the sources of all information whether quoted verbatim or paraphrased, all images, and all quotations with citations and reference listings. Along with citations and reference listings, I have used quotation marks to identify quotations of fewer than 40 words and have used block indentation for quotations of 40 or more words. Nothing in this assignment violates copyright, trademark, or other intellectual property laws. I further agree that my name typed on the line below is intended to have, and shall have, the same validity as my handwritten signature.
Student’s signature (name typed here is equivalent to a signature): KMH Hate Crime Analysis It has been found all over the world where acts of violence were taking upon specific groups of people for reasons such as their race, religion and even gender. Although this may not seem the right or ethical thing to do yet some people follow their beliefs rather than what is ethical. This is where hate crimes come into play. In recent years, hate crimes against religious groups, especially Muslims and Arabs have increased and this is blamed by the “War on Terrorism”.
It is thought that the “War on Terrorism” and the event of September 11th have placed a permanent picture in the minds of Americans to automatically assume or suspect that any American Muslim or Arab looking individual may be a terrorist and planning another horrific act against the United States of America. Since no citizen of American would ever want to witness such an event again, some people or groups have taken it upon themselves to ensure that this does not happen by committing acts of violence against such people.
Police officers in recent years have been ordered to focus on suspicious individuals that may possibly perform acts of terrorism, but how do they know for sure that this individual is a terrorist. Don’t they all resemble each other and we cannot single out an entire race because of their religious beliefs and that fact that some individuals of those same beliefs chose to take a path of violence (Hanson, 2010). What factors do these predators look for when choosing their hate crime victims?
There are several different factors such as the individuals race (do they resemble Arabs or Muslims), their clothing (are they wearing religious attire), their head gear (are they wearing a head dress) and even their actions and how they speak to other individuals. Some examples of these hate crimes are murder, beating, arson, attacks on their religious mosques, verbal threats and even vehicle assaults. Hate crime predators don’t think of how they are affecting others lives but in essence are taking their anger out on the individuals that they have linked to such a terrible and tragic event in history (Hanson, 2010).
After this event, it only took a matter of days for hate crimes to begin in the United States. In Gary, Indiana, Hasson Awadh owned a convenient store. As he was opening up for the day less than a week after September 11th, a man began shooting at his store with an assault rifle. Fortunately for Awadh, the store had bulletproof glass which in the end saved his life. However, this was a hate crime as he became the target because he was Arab. He was lucky to survive as others in similar situations were not as lucky.
Another hate crime occurred later on that September against Abdo Ali Ahmed who also owned a convenient store which was located in California. Ahmed was shot to death as he stood behind his store counter. Ahmed had actually been warned of this hate crime with a note on his windshield stating that he would be killed but chose to ignore the threat (Hanson, 2010). In 2002 the FBI conducted a study that had shown the number of hate crimes against Arabs and Muslims had increased from 28 in 2000 to 481 in 2002. That is a 1600% increase over two years.
Though most of these incidents were not directed at Muslims, nearly all of them were directed at Arabs. With statistics such as this, it is impossible to deny the fact that Arabs in the United States will more than likely become victims of hate crimes over any other race or religion (ghazali. net 2010). How are we able to take control of such a situation and assist the victims and the communities when such acts of violence occur? The simple answer to this question is restorative justice. Restorative justice is a balance between the victims of the crimes, the offenders of the crimes and the community in which these crimes happen.
Some examples of restorative justice in a community are victim-offender mediation, community decision-making, restorative community service (if any damage caused to property during the crime), and even restitution. In the restorative justice model, it isn’t important who is guilty of the crime or what the punishment should be. The questions that are being asked and answered in the restorative justice model are: what harm was caused by the crime, can the harm be repairs and who will be responsible or in charge of the repair (Strickland, 2004). Restorative justice focuses less on who is responsible for the crime and to merely punish them.
It is to actually bring the community together to resolve the issue as a whole; learn of the different points of view and restore the community to its natural form like it was before the crime occurred. This is a more peaceful path to resolving the harm or damage caused by the crime. Though this seems the perfect route to take for any community, there are also complications with the restorative justice. Some individuals of the community would rather see the punishment of the offender happen and feel that by conducting restorative justice will not teach the offender not to further commit such crimes (Strickland, 2004).
The best way to find out the actual count of victims within a community would be an anonymous survey. Most victims will not come forward as they are in fear of retaliation. In order to ensure their safety while still gaining the quantitative and qualitative data necessary to assess the hate crimes within the community; the surveys can be taken over a matter of time and mailed in or dropped off at a research office in an envelope. After the survey are analyzed by researchers, it will become more clear as to what incidents are taking place, what specific individuals are being targeted, nd what the reason is behind the hate crimes. Hate crimes fall under the social control theory as the conflict is between individuals or groups based on different factors which may include specific events that have taken place. These are not solely based on an individual’s religion but events that took place and therefore were targeted for having the same religious beliefs as terrorists. Had September 11th never happened, the number of hate crimes towards Arabs and Muslims would be far less and the crimes that did occur would fall under the conflict theory.
In conclusion, hate crimes are usually caused by events such as September 11th. Arabs and Muslims alike have had to deal with hate crimes since this event because of the nature of the event itself. Individuals of hate crimes take out their anger from an event on the individuals that they feel are responsible. Restorative justice is a way to involve the community and deter individuals from committing hate crimes but this will never put a complete stop to such violent acts.
Reference Hanson, J. (2010). Causes of Arab-Related Hate Crimes. Retrieved on October 13, 2011 from http://www. nwc. cc. wy. us/dotAsset/111789. pdf n. a. (2010). Post 9/11 Challenges: Hate Crimes and Discrimination Retrieved on October13, 2011 from http://www. amp. ghazali. net/7-Hate_crimes_and_discrimination. pdf Stickland. R. (2004). Restorative Justice. Retrieved on October 13, 2011 from http://www. bsos. umd. edu/gvpt/lpbr/subpages/reviews/strickland205. htm