Another problem with hate crimes is that many times when a one occurs, it may not be reported due to fear of the outcome or difficulty in finding the correct help. The article The Facts About Violence Against Historically Disadvantaged Persons states that of the 30,000 victims of sexual minority hate crimes in 2006, only 1472 hate crime victims were actually reported. This can be due to the traumatic experience of reliving the crime incident. Victims can also be humiliated if the crime’s importance is diminished. Hate crimes are often difficult to classify by law enforcement, which can prevent victims from feeling comfortable with reporting the hate crime.
Reporting sexual prejudice hate crimes is so important for many reasons. First of all, if the process is done correctly, it can help the victim feel closure and safety. Also, reporting a hate crime will increase the chances that the perpetrator is caught. A study described in the article Articulated Thoughts About Antigay Hate Crimes found that, when compared to a non-hate crime, people who will commit a hate crime are often times more aggressive and more likely to commit future violence. Removing the criminal from the community will help ensure further safety for everyone.
So how can society help to improve these poor reporting rates? Well first of all, having access to an easy, private, and understanding reporting process encourage people to report these instances. This is especially important in a community such as a college campus. In addition to this, research has shown that states with strong hate crime laws and institutional policies had a higher number of documented sexual orientation hate crimes (Stotzer, 2010). However, this is due to the fact that there is simply more reporting, not more crimes. People deserve to have their rights protected while feeling comfortable and supported, and keeping their private lives private.
References:
Image from: Calgary City News Blog. http://www.calgary.ca/cps/Pages/Community-programs-and-resources/Diversity-resources/Hate-and-bias-crimes.aspx
Herek, Gregory. (2013). Sexual Orientation: Science, Education, and Policy. LGB Psychology. http://www.lgbpsychology.org/
McLeod-Bryant, S., et.al. (2008). The facts about violence against historically disadvantaged persons: What can psychiatrists do about disproportionately high rates of suicide and violence? Psychiatric Times, 25(13), 37-40. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/204584659?accountid=14541
Stotzer, R. L. (2010). Sexual
orientation-based hate crimes on campus: The impact of policy on reporting
rates. Sexuality Research & Social Policy, 7(3), 147-154. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s13178-010-0014-1
Nadine, R. R., & Davison,
G. C. (2002). Articulated thoughts about antigay hate crimes. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 26(4),
431-447. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1016214632062
Its amazing to me to learn that there are truly that many hate crimes that happen and that so many can be effected because of this issue. I know that one thing that I thought about after reading this blog, is the issue that so many have with this which in return can lead to suicide, especially for the age group that actually goes to college. I'm sure this has a lot to do with it is so hard for some to be truthful about their actual sexuality. Hate crimes seems to be a thing of the past, or at least that's what I thought of when I read your post, but I realize now that the situation is still really alive and involves a lot of people.
ReplyDeleteThis was a really great post, it was very informative. I agree that it is a huge issue that these crimes are not being reported and there is a lot of work to be done to solve this. I especially agreed with you saying that it is difficult to report these crimes because they can be diminished or made out to be unimportant. This topic is especially prevalent on college campuses, and getting the word out is very important.
ReplyDeleteThis post was incredibly informative and prevalent in today's world. People of all sexual orientations should be able to feel safe and comfortable in whatever environment they are in and I think it is so important to have a better system of reporting hate crimes. Great job!
ReplyDeleteKatie, you are absolutely right, suicide is a very sad result of many sexual orientation minorities because of nonacceptance, ridicule, or hate crimes.
ReplyDeleteYou are all correct in recognizing that college campuses are especially rancid with hate crimes. An article located at this link http://www.sciencedirect.com.mutex.gmu.edu/science/article/pii/S0140197111000030 describes an ecological systems theory approach to the problems non-heterosexuals run into. This demonstrates the importance of the environment that a social phenomenon, such as hate crimes, occurs in.
The statistics you referred about the amount of hate crimes reported really caught me by surprise, you said "of the 30,000 victims of sexual minority hate crimes in 2006, only 1472 hate crime victims were actually reported." This is actually kind of scary because when so much less is being reported then less effort is being put in by law enforcement to prevent future hate crimes and reprehend offenders. Also, you explained the need for hate crimes to be reported for closure and so forth to help the victim heal, so the fact that there are such few being reported is really unfortunate.
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