Persuasive research paper on hate crimes Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Persuasive on hate crimes - Research Paper Example In this paper, hate crimes will be discussed and why these crimes should receive a higher sentence than crimes that were not motivated by bias. Hate crimes are committed as a result of bias or bigotry, which is both inherently, learned behaviour (Spillane, 1995 from Steinberg et al, 2003, Card, 2001). Crimes are generally based on a victim’s race, sexual orientation, religion, disability, ethnicity, national origin (Torres, 1999) or gender (McPhail and DiNitto, 2005). Hate crimes encompass crimes from murder to vandalism, the common link being that they were motivated by bias. Most hate crimes are committed by a group of people and target property though some target individuals (Steinbery et al, 2003). Hate crimes are often carried out as a result of a number of prejudices which are difficult to pinpoint exactly. They can often have a domino effect in that one act of violence can lead to many more. This was the case in the hate crimes that ensued after the September 11th attacks on the USA (Steinberg et al, 2003). Hate crimes can lead to a culture of fear and hostility in society and gnaw away at the fabric of society. They not only affect individual victims but target society as a whole. They will tend to have upsetting and persistent effects on the families of victim, institutions to which they belong and they communities which they are from (Hutson et al, 1997 from Steinberg et al, 2003). Hate crime has persisted in America for quite a while (Steinberg et al, 2003). However, the title of hate crimes has is a socially-constructed idea that has only happened recently (McPhail and DiNitto, 2005). 1. Thought hate crimes often target individuals, they are actually an attack against a particular group of people and are to send a message to that group (Hutson et al, 1997,Downey et al, 1999, Mannat et al, 1994 from Steinberg et al, 2003) 2. The motivation for the attack on a particular individual is generally a feature