Hate crimes, also known as bias crimes or bias-motivated crimes, have been defined in many ways within diverse disciplines and in both contemporary social and political discourse. In general, a hate crime can be thought of as a crime against a person that is motivated by hatred. A legal definition of hate crime can be found in many national legislations, which tend to [Page 663]define a hate crime as an offense motivated by prejudice rather than by hate. Hate crimes arise from specific social, political, and economic conditions that encourage expressions of intolerance.

Using examples such as the anti-Semitic assaults that led to Holocaust, the Ku Klux Klan's violence against African Americans, and more recently, the post-September 11, 2001 anti-Muslim violence, it is clear that ...