Chapter 8 Flashcards
What as an infamous example of a hate crime?
> Robert Gregory Bowers perpetrated the deadliest hate crime against Jewish citizens in the United States.
> Bowers entered the Tree of Life Synagogue where Shabbat morning services were underway. Armed with a semiautomatic rifle and a number of handguns, Bowers immediately opened fire, shooting at anyone he saw.
> Bowers left eleven individuals dead, another seven wounded,
> was prompted by anti-Semitism.
What has been a feature of anti-semitism? What are two prominient theory of this feature?
> Conspiracy theories such as:
1) white genocide theory that suggests white Americans and western civilization are being destroyed through immigration, and
2) migrant caravans heading to the United States from Central America in 2018 were actually part of a Jewish plot aimed at undermining and weakening the United States.
Have hate crimes been increasing?
> hate crimes have been on the rise in the United States, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
Are hate crimes interconnected with other forms of violence?
> Yes
> previous hate-filled violence can inspire further violence
> example - mass shootings (Roof, a 21-year-old white supremacist from South Carolina, went to a historic Black church in Charleston, South Carolina, and killed nine members of the congregation during a prayer service interconnected as it was leading to the rally and the violence in Charlottesville)
- Were hate crimes prosecuted the same way back then?
- What crime would they usually be prosecuted?
- What is a specific case example?
> were typically prosecuted as ordinary offenses based on the underlying behavior rather than the motivating element of bias or hatred of a group.
> prosecuted for civil rights violations, a federal crime since 1871, when congress passed the Civil Rights Act.
> the 1994 prosecution of four Los Angeles Police Department officers who were caught on video tape beating Black motorist Rodney King (recieved this sentence)
- What is the the Anti-Defamation League (ADL)?
- What did they create a successful lobbying campaign for?
- What organizations assisted them?
- Overall, what were they all campagining to get laws for and what has that term since been renamed?
- is an organization founded to fight anti-Semitism and other forms of prejudice,
- began a successful lobbying campaign to pass hate crime legislation based on a model statute that they developed.
- Assisted by other organizations such as the Southern Poverty Law Center, the National Institute for Prejudice and Violence, and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force,
- to get laws against what they first termed ethnic intimidation (later renamed bias-motivated crime) enacted into law.
What term did the ADL coin?
> they first termed ethnic intimidation (later renamed bias-motivated crime)
What was the work of the ADL instrumental for?
> Was instrumental in the adoption of hate crime laws for many states and the federal government.
What two cases have come to be synonymous with modern American hate crime?
> the James Byrd case in 1998 and the killing of Matthew Shepard that same year.
What is the case of James Byrd?
> James Byrd Jr., a 49-year-old African American, declined a ride home from a friend during a party and decided to walk home alone on Martin Luther King Boulevard in Jasper, Texas.
> A gray pickup truck driven by Shawn Berry, the 23-year-old manager of a local movie theater, and two other men Byrd did not know pulled up.
> He and two other men, Bill King and Russell Brewer, had picked Byrd up on Martin Luther King Boulevard; they then drove him up to Huff Creek Road, beat him up in a clearing, spray-painted his face black, and then dragged him with a logging chain tied to his ankles about three miles before they dumped his body at the side of the road. Byrd’s head and arm had been cut off when his body was pulled over a sharp metal culvert.
How did the town of Jasper, specifically those from African American communities show support for James Byrd?
> To demonstrate their support, thousands wore yellow ribbons, and at Byrd’s funeral, speeches about reconciliation and healing were given by dignitaries, including Jesse Jackson and Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, and a letter from then–President Bill Clinton was read.
When was the first time that the term hate crime came to the forefront of public consciousness in the United States? (what crime?)
> The brutal murder of James Byrd Jr.
What was the case of Matthew Shepard?
> was a 21-year-old college student who attended the University of Wyoming.
> On the evening of October 7, 1998, Russell Henderson and Aaron McKinney went to a known gay bar with the intent of targeting a gay man for robbery.
> They met Shepard there and offered him a ride home.
> Instead of taking him home, however, they took him to a remote area, tied him to a fence post, pistol-whipped him in the head to unconsciousness, and left him there to die.
> Shepard was found more than 18 hours later by a cyclist.
> He never regained consciousness and died four days later on October 12.
At the time of both Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr.’s deaths, most states did not have hate crime statutes. Today, how many states have these statues? What are the exceptions?
ARKNS,GRGA, SCLINA, WYOM
> 46 states and the District of Columbia have some sort of bias crime legislation, the exceptions being Arkansas, Georgia, South Carolina, and Wyoming.
Generally, these statutes add additional time onto sentence lengths for those convicted of hate-motivated offenses. For example, after the Tree of Life Synagogue mass murders, federal prosecutors charged Robert Bowers with many crimes, including the following:
> 11 counts of obstruction of free exercise of religious beliefs resulting in death;
> 11 counts of use and discharge of a firearm to commit murder during and in relation to a crime of violence;
> 2 counts of obstruction of free exercise of religious beliefs involving an attempt to kill and use of a dangerous weapon and resulting in bodily injury;
> 11 counts of use and discharge of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence;
> 8 counts of obstruction of free exercise of religious beliefs involving an attempt to kill and use of a dangerous weapon, and resulting in bodily injury to a public safety officer; and
> 1 count of obstruction of free exercise of religious beliefs involving use of a dangerous weapon and resulting in bodily injury to a public safety officer.29
Similar to all crime statutes, however, there is a great deal of variability in how and when offenses are considered:
> a hate crime
A hate crime is not a specific kind of offense but is instead considered:
> an existing offense that is perpetrated because of some underlying prejudice or hatred perceived by the offender(s)
When is an “ordinary crime” considered a hate crime? In hate crimes, what do prosecuters have to prove?
> an ordinary crime becomes a hate crime when offenders select a victim because of some characteristic, such as the victim’s race or religion.
> prosecutors must typically demonstrate that a victim is targeted because of their group affiliation.
With respect to hate crimes, the specific victim is not necessarily chosen because of who they are or what they did but simply because of what?
> they belong to a particular group.
What quality do hate crimes share with genocide?
> quality of impersonal victimization is something that hate crimes share with genocide
> aka they simply belong to a particular group - not because of who they are or what they did
Can genocides be considered a hate crime?
> genocides can be considered an extreme, systematic, and collective type of hate crime.
What is the legal and specific definiton of a hate crime as provided by the FBI?
> A hate crime, also known as a bias crime, is a criminal offense committed against a person, property, or society that is motivated, in whole or in part, by the offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or ethnicity/national origin.
What are some characteristics that statues may include in their definition of a hate crime?
A,G, PA, TRNS, GI
> age, gender, political affiliation, and transgender status or gender identity.
What is another term that is used to describe a hate crime?
> As the language of the FBI definition suggests, bias crime is sometimes used as another term for hate crime.