State and federal hate crime laws punish crimes involving discrimination on the basis of a person's group characteristic, such as race, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, gender, or disability. The Supreme Court has refined the definition of hate crime through decisions which affirmed one type of hate crime law, but rejected another. Punishing hate crimes is consistent with the traditional aims of our criminal justice system. Our criminal laws consistently enhance penalties for seemingly similar conduct based on the risk, severity, and context of a particular crime. Carefully drafted hate crime laws punish conduct that is objectively more dangerous to victims and society.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
American Law Institute
. (1962-Present). Model penal code (§§ 5.03, 221.1-221.2, 250.1). Philadelphia: Author.
2.
Beauharnais v. Illinois, 343 U.S. 250 (1952).
3.
Boston Police Department, Community Disorders Unit
. (1991). Internal statistics report: 1991. Boston: Author.
4.
Coker v. Georgia, 433 U.S. 584, 598 (1977).
5.
Dunbar, E.
(1997, November). Hate crime patterns in Los Angeles County: Demographic and behavioral factors of victim impact and reporting of crime. Paper presented at a congressional briefing cosponsored by the American Psychological Association and the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues, Washington, DC.
6.
Federal Bureau of Investigation
. (1997). Hate Crimes in the United States: 1996. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice.
7.
Franklin, K.
(1997, November). Psychosocial motivations of hate crime perpetrators: Implications for prevention and policy. Paper presented at a congressional briefing cosponsored by the American Psychological Association and the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues, Washington, DC.
8.
Garafolo, J.
(1990). Bias and non-bias crimes in New York City. Unpublished paper.
9.
Glidewell, J.
(1998, January 26). Let's talk trash about fruits and vegetables. St. Petersburg Times, Citrus Times, p. 1.
10.
Hate Crime Sentencing Enhancement Act of 1994 of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, Pub. L. No. 103-322, §280003, (1994).
11.
Herek, G.
, & Berrill, K. (Eds.). (1992). Hate crimes: Confronting violence against lesbians & gay men. Newbury Park, CA: Sage
12.
Herek, G. M.
, Cogan, J., & Gillis, R. J. (1997, November). The impact of hate crime victimization. Paper presented at a congressional briefing cosponsored by the American Psychological Association and the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues, Washington, DC.
13.
In re M.S., 10 Cal. 4th 698 (1995).
14.
Jacobs, J.
, & Potter, B. (1998). Hate crimes: Criminal law & identity politics. New York: Oxford University Press.
15.
Levin, B.
(1992-1993). Bias crimes: A theoretical and practical overview. Stanford Law & Policy Review, 4, 165-169.
16.
Levin, J.
, & McDevitt, J. (1993). Hate crimes: The rising tide of bigotry & bloodshed. New York: Plenum.
17.
Maryland State Police Criminal Intelligence Division
. (1997). Maryland state police criminal intelligence division: Hate/bias incident assessment 1996.
18.
McDevitt, J.
(1989, July). The study of the character of civil rights violations in Massachusetts (1983-1987). Paper presented at the American Society of Criminology.
19.
National Institute Against Prejudice & Violence
. (1986). The ethnoviolence project (Institute Report No. 1). Baltimore, MD: Author.
20.
National Institute Against Prejudice & Violence
. (1989). The national victimization survey. Baltimore, MD: Author.
21.
New York City Police Department (NYPD)
. (1985-1987). NYPD monthly bias crime charts: 1985-7. New York: Bias Incident Investigation Unit.
22.
New York City Police Department (NYPD)
. (1986-1987). NYPD monthly bias crime charts: 1986-7. New York: Bias Incident Investigation Unit.
23.
Payne v. Tennessee, 501 U.S. 808 (1991).
24.
R.A.V. v. St. Paul, 505 U.S. 377 (1992).
25.
Roberts v. United States Jaycees, 468 U.S. 609 (1984).
26.
Smith v. Collin, 436 U.S. 953 (1978).
27.
State v. T.B.D., 656 S.2d 479 (Fla, 1995), cert. denied, 116 S.Ct. 1014 (1996).
28.
Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S. 397 (1989).
29.
Weinstein, J.
(1992). First amendment challenges to hate crime legislation. Criminal Justice Ethics, 11, 10.
30.
Wexler, C.
, & Marx, G. (1986). When law & order works. Journal of Crime & Criminology, 32, 205.
