Hate Crime Analysis - Essay Example

? Hate Crime Analysis Introduction: When criminal activities are performed and supported by individuals that result from the expression of their anger, hatred, dislike or distrust for the other individual who becomes the victim, it is referred to as hate crimes (Rayburn, Earleywine & Davison, 2003, p.1209). A detailed analysis on hate crimes would reflect that several factors like race or religion are responsible in bringing about such crimes in a society. The particular study focuses on the several factors that form the basis for victimization, and makes an analysis on the justice models made available in the context. The measurement of victimization has been studied and the criminological theories explaining the victimization of individuals have also been focused. Victimization: The Responsible Factors: Victimization involves intentionally making an individual a victim and inflicting him that leads to his suffering. It can be understood that such a measure might be supported by certain serious factors. Studies have obtained such factors to be the differences in race, religion or orientation of sex. It has been found that in order to prove a hate crime in the legal system of a society, the criminal needs to be proved to have attempted the crime on the basis of a bias. Such a bias may come from race, color, religion, nationality, disability, gender or sexual orientation (Gerstenfeld, 2004, p.66). This might be explained through a few instances as observed among students who reflected biasness on racial discrimination and let several young people suffer. For example, a case in Utah presented facts of a man who detonated a pipe bomb in the room where two African American students were residing. He also gave threatening to another African American student through a note. A former Californian student was found to give threats to around 60 students through e-mails, the victims being Asian Americans. Another college student in Massachusetts was found to make a number of anti Semitic remarks along with threatening other students and also delivery the photos of the victims to others (Gerstenfeld, 2004, p.72). A serious factor in the victimization leading to hate crimes is based on the sexual orientation of individuals that impact the mental health to a great extent as have been observed through several instances. Particularly in these cases, the psychological effects are severely visible among the lesbians and gays than they are affected by any other criminal activity (Herek, n.d.). Thus individuals becoming victims in the hands of other individuals and leading to hate crimes can be understood to be a major cause of concern for the society as a whole. Restorative Justice Models: Restorative justice allows a delinquent to realize his wrongdoing and provides him with an opportunity to take measures to refurbish the situation and present himself as a good individual in front of the society. In this case the main aspect of solving the situation is dependent on an apology that the offender requires to ask for from the victim who suffered owing to his actions. There are several models of restorative justice developed with the purpose of addressing the issues relating to victimization of individuals. Of these, victim offender mediation or reconciliation is a model that is used in cases of minor criminal activities as well as violent measures adopted seriously by individuals. The process would involve solving the issues between the victim and the offender by directly interacting with each other. The primary responsibility in such a situation is that of the offender’s to apologize and heal the pain inflicted on the victim. Other restorative justice models include conferencing models that are similar to the victim offender mediation except that in this case the supporters of the two groups are also involved in the process of healing of pain of the victim. Such supporters include the family members or close friends and they take an active role in the process of mediation. Circle sentencing or peacemaking circles are another model where a ritual object representing common factors among the two groups is used to negotiate the mediation process. Another model reflects the board programs to deal with juvenile criminal activities involving trained groups to initiate and enhance the process of mediation between the victim and the offender (Karp, 2004, pp.10-13). Benefits and Challenges: The benefits of the above mentioned models lay in their initiatives to solve the issues between the victim and the offender with the use of informal practices yet firm in character. Thus the restorative justice programs can be seen to be participating actively in the repairing of the old system. The challenge of this skilled and effective system lies in its capability to mediate in solving issues of disasters at the national and international levels (Volpe, 2007, pp.612-615). Measurement of Victimization: Of several measures available for measurements of victimization, one most common method that is prevalent is the use of unspecified, self reporting questionnaires. The mostly known of this is the Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire. This process is mostly applicable on children and adolescents and provides a perceived assessment of the experiences that these individuals have in regard to victimization. Thus by asking questions, the responses of these individuals are tried to be obtained and analyzed. Self report procedures are also suitable in cases of assessing situations in older populations. The method is retrospective in nature and intends to determine the level and impacts of victimization on an individual who has been the victim of the criminal attacks (Jantzer, 2006, pp.9-10). The process of using questionnaires has been closely discussed here since the study has reflected the activities of the adolescents who are part of the criminal groups initiated as a result of the victimization and hate crime measures undertaken by them. Criminological Theory of Victimization: Several criminological theories are available that may be applicable in the understanding of the victimization process in individuals. Of all the theories, Deviant Place Theory can be applied in the understanding of victimization in individuals. This theory reflects the fact that individuals do not involve themselves into such measures intentionally; rather circumstances and the society are also responsible to a large extent in compelling such individuals into these victimization and hate crime activities. It would depend on a large scale to the extent to which these individuals get exposed to the factors influencing the hate crime activities and victimizing individuals for the purpose (Siegel, 2005, p.79). This theory is more applicable in cases of adolescents and hence has been discussed in the current study where the focus has been placed on the use of victimization among young individuals. However, there are some other criminological theories as well that might be used in the understanding of victimization. These include the victim precipitation theory and the lifestyle theory (Siegel, 2005, pp.77-79).These two theories also have their own beliefs and methods of finding the causes of victimization and trying to prevent such measures of hate crimes. Conclusion: To bring the study to a conclusion, it can here be mentioned that victimization leading to hate crime activities among individuals thereby affecting lives of so many is a matter of serious concern. The different factors that have been observed to be responsible include the differences in the race or religion or sexual orientation. Such factors reflect the negative approach of the society as well that has significant influences over the offender. However, there are restorative models available that might be used effectively to solve the issues between the offender and the victim through mediation processes. Also, different measures have been observed to be available that can aid the measurement of victimization thus helping in the understanding and probable prevention of the hate crime activities. Thus victimization leading to the crime activities can be understood to be a process that can be tried to be prevented if proper measures can be taken on time accompanied by proper understanding. References 1) Gerstenfeld, P.B. (2004). Hate crimes: causes, controls, and controversies, California: SAGE 2) Herek, G.M. (n.d.), The Impact of Hate Crime Victimization, UCDAVIS, Retrieved on October 21, 2011 from: http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/rainbow/html/summary.pdf 3) Jantzer, A.M. (2006). Retrospective reports of bullying victimization, college adjustment, and the role of coping, Michigan: ProQuest 4) Karp, D.R. (2004). Restorative justice on the college campus: promoting student growth and responsibility, and reawakening the spirit of campus community, Illinois: Charles C Thomas Publisher 5) Rayburn, N.R., Earleywine, M. & G.C. Davison (2003). Base Rates of Hate Crime Victimization Among College Students, Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 18(10), pp.1209-1221, Retrieved on October 20, 2011 from: http://www.sagepub.com/criminologystudy/articles/chapter16_article03rayburn.pdf 6) Siegel, L.J. (2005). Criminology, Connecticut: Cengage Learning 7) Volpe, M.R. (2007), Restorative Justice in Post-Disaster Situations: Untapped Potential, 8, pp.611-621, Retrieved on October 22, 2011 from: http://www.cojcr.org/vol8no2/611-622.pdf Read More