- A criminal act or attempted criminal act against an individual or group of individuals because of their actual or perceived race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, sexual orientation, gender or disability.
- A crime is an act deemed to be illegal, it becomes a hate crime when it is motivated by bias or prejudice against a person or people perceived to be a part of a group, and that is intended to induce fear, scare, terrify or cause psychological harm.
- Victims of hate crimes often continue to feel threatened long after an attack due to being targeted simply because of who they are. These crimes victimize everyone – individuals and our entire community.
- The term “hate crime” came into common use in the 1980s, but the term is often used retrospectively about events occurring prior to that.
- This can be committed against a person or property.
- A victim does not have to be a member of the group at which the hostility is targeted. In fact, anyone could be a victim of a hate crime.In a hate crime, the person is selected because of a characteristic that he or she cannot change.
- Some examples of hate crimes: assaults, criminal damage, harassment, murder, sexual assault, theft, fraud, burglary, hate mail, causing harassment.
- Different countries have different hate crime laws.
Hate Speech
- Hate speech is a controversial term for speech intended to degrade, intimidate, or incite violence or prejudicial action against a group of people based on their race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, or disability; hate speech includes written as well as oral communication.
- An important difference to recognize is that Hate Crime doesn’t always involve Hate Speech and Hate Speech in and of itself is not always a Hate Crime.
Hate Incident
- Any incident, which may or may not be a crime, that the victim or any other person perceives to be motivated by hostility or prejudice towards any aspect of a person’s identity.When hate incidents become criminal offenses they are known as hate crimes.
Psychological effects
Hate crimes can have significant and wide-ranging psychological consequences, not only upon the direct victim but on others as well.
- Impact on the individual victim.
- Effect on the targeted group
- Effect on other vulnerable groups
- Effect on the community as a whole
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