Increasing Rate of Hate Crime in Schools and Colleges - Essay Example

Increasing rate of hate crime in schools and colleges The increasing involvement of youths in hate crimes in the past has captured many a headline and attracted a lot of concern from academics, legislators, and policy makers. Hate crimes motivated by individual hatred toward another individual’s sexual orientation race, religion, ethnicity, or any other characteristics that make them unique and diverse are unjustified in a pluralistic society. Hate crime has several definitions but basically stands for any criminal offence which is motivated by prejudice, hostility or bias and inflicts either emotional or physical pain on the victim. Every year, thousands of American students suffer at the hands of a hate crime offender or become victims of hate crimes. The pain and injustice that comes as a result creates tensions among a school and sends ripples of fear in a minority group. Hate crime denies people their democratic society and affects us all. Schools and institutions of higher learning have been reported to be the third most likely location for these types of intolerance or violence. Adolescents and young adults account for a considerable proportion of the countrys hate crimes and can act both as perpetrators and as victims. Hate-motivated behavior comes in different forms including ethnic conflict, verbal, sexual or physical harassment, intimidation, or graffiti. These have been apparent in our schools and the trend is growing. While statistics show that the number of hate crimes is significantly low when compared to other types of crimes, hate crimes statistics hold more mass than statistics for other crimes. A bias motivated threat or act does not only affect the victim but affects every one of the members of the group that the victim represents. McDevitt (1999). Crime data that has been collected by the Federal Bureau of Investigation over a period of time shows that there is an increasing rate of youthful hate crime reports. In 2007 alone the FBIs annual Hate Crime Statistics Act has documented that the third most frequent locations for hate crimes were in schools and colleges. This has been the trend since the year 2000. Additionally, there are reports from the annual U.S. Department of Justice/Department of Education indicate that in 2007, 11 percent of students between the ages of 12-18 reported that they had a person at school using hate-related words against them, and 38% which is more than one-third of the total reported seeing hate-related graffiti at school in 2005. (Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2007) According to an October 2001 report by the U.S. Justice Departments Bureau of Justice Statistics indicated that 3,000 out of 24,000 hate crimes reported to the FBI from 1997-1999 projected that a high percentage of victims and perpetrators of hate crimes were young people under 18 years of age. 33% of all known hate crimes were under the age of 18, and of those under 18, 31% of them were violent crime offenders while 46% were property offenders. It also indicated that a total of 29% of all hate crime offenders were between the ages of 18-24. (Since a number of hate crimes are never reported to police or the people in charge, it is likely that the actual number of hate crimes significantly exceeds this number.) The graph below represents the number of hate crime incidents by bias motivation and location. A single bias incident is defined as an incident in which one or more types of offences are motivated by a similar bias. A multiple bias incident is one in which more than one offence type occurs and at least two of these are motivated by completely different biases. The data used to create this graph were from all law enforcing agencies which had submitted more than one hate crime incident for at least one month of the year. Source: Hate crime statistics 2009 U.S. Department of Justice — Federal Bureau of Investigation http://www2.fbi.gov/ucr/hc2009/locationtype.html It should be noted by readers that there have been inconsistencies in hate crime data collection uniformity among jurisdictions due to the many inconsistent definitions of hate crime. This has brought a myriad of difficulties in comparison of hate crimes across locations (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 1993). This hate crime trend in schools and institutions of higher learning is brought about by youth who demonstrate bullying, impulse control problems, thrill or adventure seeking behavior, aggression problems, competitive nature, underlying feelings of betrayal or hurt. Beck (1999) argues that youth who act like this may be depressed, feel betrayed or believe that someone or group is responsible for this betrayal and should pay or be punished for it. Youth in the adolescent age have major manifestations of these habits that lead to hatred. If they have not learned how to control their anger, sexual and aggressive tendencies, they are bound to be at risk of committing these crimes. Additionally they are exposed to catalyst that come in the form of media, alcohol, peer pressure and drugs which may result in destructive behavior. Other factors include poverty, failures in school or problems within the family like divorce etc. Youth are also the most impressionable members of the society and when they perceive that there are some beliefs and emotions directed to certain people who are considered different, they take it upon themselves to become violent and prejudiced. These have led to schools no longer becoming the safe haven they were but are now fertile grounds for hate crimes. Whenever these incidents of hate crimes come about in a learning institution the ideal of the school or college as a safe place of learning and growth is completely destroyed. Hate crimes not only affect students but also staff or faculty and this in turn undermines the initial mission of learning institutions. It also deprive the youth a chance to stay in an atmosphere that is devoid of fear and intimidation. Legislation to protect victims and punish hate crime offenders have been in place for several years. But of major concern is that the criminal justice systems of many countries have not taken into consideration the extent and direction of the growing numbers of hate crimes occurring yearly in schools and institutions of higher learning. In the recent years there have been introduction of a number of criminal offences in this light including ‘The Hate Crimes Statistics Act of 1990’. This reflects the increasing numbers of youth inflicted hate crimes. Summary and Conclusions From the data given by the FBI it is clear that there is a trend in the rising rate of involvement of youth in hate crimes driven by bias and prejudice in schools and colleges. This must be a wakeup call for anyone concerned with the safety of students in schools. It is important for schools to educate their students on the value of treating people who are different with utmost respect. It is notable that educators who are mandated and tasked with the job of ensuring security for students as well as respond to crimes of intolerance that are committed by youth have a small number of comprehensive tools to help them reduce the rising number of hate crimes in schools and institutions of higher learning. The good news is that a growing number of schools and colleges are taking part in the effort towards creating comprehensive anti-hate policies and have taken part in the development of programs that involve every aspect of the school community, as well as students, staff, parents, teachers/lecturers, and administrators. The result is a school environment devoid of hateful acts and one which provides all students with an equitable and safe place to learn. . References U.S. Dept. of Education, National Center for Education Statistics and U.S. Dept. of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, "Indicators of School Crimes and Safety: 2007," (pdf) December 2007. U.S. Dept. of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, "Hate Crimes Reported in NIBRS, 1997-99," September 2001. Hate crimes on campus; the problem and efforts to confront it. Hate crimes series U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Assistance. (pdf) 2001 Retrieved from https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/bja/187249.pdf on 11/03/2013 McDevitt, p. 12; NGLTF Policy Institute, Anti-Gay and Lesbian Violence, Victimization, and Defamation Report for 1994 (Washington, D.C., 1994), p. 12. Jack Levin and Jack McDevitt, Hate Crimes: The Rising Tide of Bigotry and Bloodshed (New York: Plenum Press, 1993), pp. 1–8, 75, 86–87. Eric Bishop and Jeff Slowikowski, “Hate Crime,” Fact Sheet #29 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, August 1995). Levin interview; Levin, “Bias Crimes”; Office for Victims of Crime, National Bias Crimes Training for Law Enforcement and Victim Assistance Professionals: A Guide for Training Instructors (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, 1995), p. 61. Federal Bureau of Investigation (2005). Hate Crime in the United States, Washington DC Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (2000). Annual Report of the Office for Protection of the Constitution , Washington DC. Beck AT: Prisoners of Hate: the Cognitive Basis of Anger, Hostility, and Violence. New York, HarperCollins, 1999 Federal Bureau of Investigation. (1993). Hate Crime Statistics Act 1990 resource book. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. Read More