Psychological Approaches to Tackling Hate Crime - Research Paper Example

Such crimes are rooted in the prejudices of the people of every community, against the other communities. If the prejudice is uprooted, hate crimes will definitely be eliminated. Such a step can only be taken through psychological interventions at the personal and community level. Therefore, this paper evaluates hate crimes from the psychological perspective and recommends interventions that may prove helpful in eliminating the menace of hate crimes. Keywords: hate crime, race, sexual orientation, religion, community, psychology, contact theory, scapegoat theory, in-group, out-group Psychological Approaches to Tackling Hate Crime What Psychological Approaches, if any, are Effective at Tackling Hate Crime?

Introduction: The motive behind most crimes is either materialistic gain, as in the case of thefts and robberies or pleasure, as in the case of sex offences. However, hate crimes seem to be perpetrated out of no such motives. According to the Association of Chief Police Officers, UK, hate crime is defined as “any criminal offence which is perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by a hostility or prejudice based on a person’s race, religion, sexual orientation or disability” (Home office).

 In order to tackle hate crimes, many argue that the current laws and regulations should be amended and the penalties and punishments should be multiplied. On a personal level, I am of the opinion that mere alteration of laws and an increase in penalties would only be a “plaster and band-aid” solution to the problem at hand.