Hate Crimes

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 the term hate crime refers to the phenomenon of bias motivated violence, which has roots that can be traced back to ancient societies. Despite its long-standing history, it is only in the last decades of the early 21st century that hate crimes have gained the attention and efforts of lawmakers and researchers, and have sparked adequate responses to the ongoing spread of bigoted violence.

Data reveal that the percentage of hate crimes is much lower than other categories within the entire scheme of criminology. However, hate crimes have been the subject of a massive legislative response in the last two decades. This is due, in part, to the escalation of such crimes, and, simultaneously, to the growth of the civil rights movements in western states. Hate crimes are also important to women studies, not only because women are often victims of crimes motivated by gender and sex, but also due to the frequent lack of disaggregated data in crime statistics. Furthermore, the number of hate crimes committed against women, as well as the rate of increase or decrease, is still unknown. Consequently, there is a need for raising awareness in this field of research.