Hate Crime Statutes

This Brief provides a clearly outlinedand accessibleoverview of the challenges increating and enforcing hate crime legislation in the United States. As the author explains, while it is generally not controversial that hate crime behavior should be stopped, the question of how to do so effectively is complex. This volumebegins with anintroduction about defininghate crimes, and the history of hate crimes and hate crime legislation in the United States. The author shows arguments in favor of hate crimestatutes,for example:hate crimes reach beyond their victims tomembers of the victims' protected group and cohesion of society at large, and should therefore carry higher penalties.The author also shows arguments against hate crime statutes, for example thatthey sometimes contain enhanced penalties for certainspecially protected groups and not others, andhave a high potential for ambiguity and uneven enforcement. From a law enforcement perspective, the author explores the practical challenges in enforcing these statutes, and solutionsto address them. Investigative techniques andresourcesvarysignificantly across police departments, as does training to identify and distinguish hate crimes from ordinary crimes. There is high potential forlaw enforcement and prosecutors' personal biases to effect the classification of crimes as hate crimes. Law enforcement organizations are constantly faced with the dilemma of what and how to enforce legislation. This briefwill be relevant for researchers in criminology and criminal justice, policy makers involved in hate crime legislation, social justice, and police-community relations, as well as related fields such as sociology, public policy and demography.