Hate Crimes in the Community
Hate crimes are closely related to prejudice due to the nature of discrimination in both terms. Hate crime is a biased activity that targets people because of their religion, nationality or membership in a specific social group. Hate crimes is a legal issue that needs to be addressed by legal authorities since it involves a large deal of murder and violence. More so, it may involve assault since the victims may not be treated well by the haters. Engaging in this type of crime is considered to be a criminal offence that will lead to severe punishments in the law courts (Miller 2011). In California, the difference in religion especially between the Jews and the Christians has been one of the reasons why hate crimes have taken place in the state.
One type of hate crime that has taken place in California is murder. The murder cases that have been reported in this state have been related to racism. For instance, there are certain people who dislike others because of their colors and language. There was a recent report of a policeman who killed two people who were Hispanic just because of their social backgrounds. According to recent research that was conducted in the state, most of the people who engage in hate crimes are anti-black (Miller 2011). Another type of hate crime that has occurred in this state is assault. People who are of different social backgrounds have been assaulted by perpetrators who are against them. More so, there are some hate crimes that involve a great deal of intimidation in California. This mostly occurs in the situation where there are differences in sexual orientation. Offences related to sexual orientation include the move against the people who practice same sex marriage.
California has mandatory laws for reporting hate crimes. This law was first put into practice in 1978 (Miller 2011). This law included all acts that were considered to be hate crimes. More so, the law enacted severe penalties for anyone who engaged in hate crime activities. Due to strict and severe penalties imposed on the hate crime perpetrators, this kind of crime has reduced over the years. Most social activists argue that the fight against racism and religion discrimination will help in reducing hate crimes in California. This argument is based on the fact that most hate crimes are as a result of prejudice.
Miller, L, (2011). Community policing: Partnerships for problem solving (6th ed.). Clifton Park, New York. Cengage Learning.
