Attacking Hate Crimes: Society Fights Back Against an Age-Old Issue

Last week, after delving into the realm of hate crimes (particularly those racially-motivated) in my post entitled “Repeating History: How Race Plays a Role in Crime,” I decided to explore the blogosphere to see how bloggers were responding to this issue in the 21st century. While the FBI releases stunning statistics indicating racial and religious differences between hate crime victims and offenders, some would argue that the issue is wrapped in more underlying psychological factors. Such perspective is reflected by Key Sun, Ph.D., a psychologist, social worker and law professor, in his recent post “Can Race Take the Responsibility for Racially-Motivated Crime?” in Psychology Today Blogs. He there argues that external attribution of violence and a misconception of "race" as a group leads people to believe that race is to blame for something which is actually individually based. The belief held in the blog is that although a person of a specific racial group may hold a particular opinion of another group, that opinion is not necessarily shared by the racial group in question. He identifies that the media often generalizes the offender as a reflection of the entire racial group and thus gives off an incorrect impression and places the blame of hate crimes on the wrong people. On a different level, Virginia Bergman, a former reporter and editor of a community newspaper, recently posted in her blog, Katalusis, her opinion of hate crimes. Her post "Lynching Sarah Palin in Effigy: Hate Crimes Against Women Are Legal,"addresses the issue of hate crimes and how they affect females, particularly in the form of an effigy of Sarah Palin as hung in West Hollywood (as seen to the right). She argues that although racial and political hate crimes are addressed directly and forcefully, such crimes against women are treated with much less regard. In addition to commenting on their respective blogsites, I have included my comments below.

Comment:
Thank you for your very well-researched and thoroughly analyzed blog addressing these very complex and emotionally-charged issues. Being a student of social psychology myself, I have explored and am interested in the study of attribution error and I fully understand your argument, however, I must interject and respectfully question your study. I agree that in many individual cases, their actions are over-generalized by the media and made to display the particular racial or religious group in a negative light. At the same time, while the media should not categorize such groups incorrectly, it would be wrong to assume that they do not share the beliefs whatsoever. There are overwhelming statistics from the FBI to demonstrate that some racial groups are more likely to commit racial hate crimes than others or be victim to hate crimes above others. Granted not all of those occurrences are directly related to racism, however it is impractical to argue with dense statistics indicating that there is somewhat of a correlation between the two factors.

Additionally, as I understand, you have stated that the news media portrays the image of the offense committed by the group rather than the individual. While I somewhat agree with your statement, I feel as though the media presents the case and the faults of the individual, then generalizes the situation to support and supplement previous studies which have been conducted by organizations such as the FBI. Rather than over-generalizing, the news simply finds trends in the actions of the individual and does not transfer the blame away from the individual when relating it to the group.

Finally, in regards to your argument on race not being a group, I found that to be a very intriguing point. It is true that there are no clear leaders, followers and statuses in regards to race and that these individuals are widespread across different cities, states and countries. In spite of this, I cannot help but present the fact that regardless of this vast spread of different races, there are still large racially segregated communities (despite the fact that they are not forcefully segregated). These communities still have pseudo-leaders in the form of involved community members and local citizens who contribute to the actions and ideologies of community members. Thus, although they are not officially recognized groups, their interactions and sense of community in many different parts of the nation make them equally likely to be seen as a group.

Comment:
Thank you for your intriguing post on a highly significant issue, especially for women. Although hate crimes are seen to spread from the focus of race, religion, sexual orientation, and gender (to name a few), many of the focuses are shrouded by the main focus on racial hate crimes. I found you have made a strong point in mentioning that although the Palin effigy was able to hang so long without forceful consequences, the presence of a Barack Obama effigy resulted in a swift removal and arrest. It seems particularly outrageous that there would be such a strong support for one presidential candidate while paying little regard to an equally significant vice-presidential (and female) candidate.

Regardless of the fact that the effigy was claimed to be a joke for the sake of Halloween, the intent was negative and inappropriate and could even be construed as a threat to the life of the potential vice-president. To make the claim that this act was not in any way an act of a hate crime would be quite a generalization in the wrong direction. Hate crimes are identified to be acts with the intent of hurting, intimidating or instilling fear to individuals because of race, religion, sexual orientation, gender, political beliefs or disability. The act towards Palin reflects intimidation as a result of political beliefs and possibly gender. It seems ridiculous for multiple reasons that this person was able to display such an image for so long without a greater force stopping them. I agree with what you have said, and if not for the sake of women's rights, actions should have been taken for the sake of national security. This is a history-making moment for women, with a female vice-presidential candidate and it should not be treated with such little respect so as to intimidate other women from taking a stand as Palin has.

Repeating History: How Race Plays a Role in Crime

This week, I have decided to take a step back from my normal posts on false convictions and exonerations and focus on a different aspect of the psychosocial influences on criminal behavior: racial hate crimes. In a recent article published in the Washington Post, a large outcry was made by activists in such organizations as the Nation of Islam, the New Black Panthers and the NAACP (see left) in regards to a slaying of a black man, Brandon McClelland, in Paris, Texas. According to the crime reports, McClelland was en route with his two white friends in a pickup truck when an argument sent him on foot, walking home. His death was a result of his two accused friends running him down and dragging his body for about 70 feet beneath their pickup truck. Activists have voiced their strong concerns that the death of McClelland was a result of a racial hate crime whereas authorities claim that there is much doubt and little evidence to support such claims. Hence, the controversy and debate spurs from the question of whether or not this case, or similar cases, should be viewed as a hate crime.

According to a release by the Community Relations Service, a division of the U.S. Department of Justice, a hate crime is defined as "violence of intolerance and bigotry, intended to hurt and intimidate someone because of their race, ethnicity, national origin, religious, sexual orientation, or disability." Such an act is used as a weapon to instill fear, helplessness and vulnerability to the victim through a flurry of explosives, arson, weapons, vandalism, physical violence, verbal threats and the like. The 1995 Uniform Crime Report released by the FBI, there were 7,947 reported incidents of hate crimes, 2,988 of which were anti-black. Additionally, of the 8,433 known offenders, 59% were white and 27% were black. Additionally, in an article published in Law and Human Behavior entitled "'So, What's a Hate Crime Anyway?' Young Adults' Perceptions of Hate Crimes, Victims, and Perpetrators," Kellina M. Craig and Craig R. Waldo identify that hate crimes inflict greater individual and societal harm than violent crimes because they are more emotionally charged and are thus more likely to provoke community unrest and retaliatory crimes. The case of Brandon McClelland has indeed met the societal standards of a hate crime, with the black community in Paris infuriated and demanding justice in light of this demonstration of an emotionally charged crime. Also, this can easily fall into the the category of hate crimes as demonstrated by the 1995 FBI statistics and 2006 statistics, as seen to the right. The report overwhelmingly favors the occurrence of hate crimes against blacks by white offenders, demonstrating that their protests are not particularly out of the question. Regardless, there is still a very strong argument to demonstrate that the events of the McClelland case had very little indication of a racial hate crime.

The exceptional circumstances surrounding this case become the root for much conflicting argument. One of the accused, Shannon Keith Finley, had previously plead guilty to manslaughter after McClelland plead guilty to perjury for providing a false alibi for him. The fact that McClelland was friends with both of the accused muddies the claim of a hate crime. Also, during his time in prison, there was little evidence of Finley joining a white-supremacist gang and a spokesman for the Lamar County District Attorney's office indicated that there was not much to suppose any racial motivation in the crime. According to the American Psychological Association's paper, hate crimes differ from other crimes in that the offender commits the act as a message to members of a particular group that they are unwelcome. In this case, there has been no indication of Finley or the other accused sharing in these sentiments. Contrastingly, Finley's tattoos showed evidence of him being a member of a Paris gang with both black and white members, portraying quite the opposite image expected in a hate crime conviction. Regardless, protests still ran strong, making strong claims of racism and calling the events a "copycat" of the 1998 James Byrd case. It's quite clear that the claims of a hate crime having occurred are not supported by much physical evidence and the case is open to much interpretation in either direction. Because of this lack of tangible evidence, it would not be out of the question to believe that this may have been another issue of individuals with already active criminal records not necessarily committing a hate crime but a violent crime. Although they are being persecuted by the general public, law enforcement officials are justified in their argument that there is a strong possibility that a racial hate crime has not occurred.

In another light, although physical evidence may not be present, there is still circumstantial evidence leaning towards the occurrence of a hate crime. Aside from hate crimes being highly concentrated towards the black community, this case in particular was located in Paris, Texas, a historically racist community that has seen a number of hate crimes in the past. It then becomes understandable for the community to raise their voices at the recurrent presence of possible racism, particularly in this day and age. The American Psychological Association identifies that hate crimes are not often committed by organized groups, but rather by law-abiding young people in situations which are sometimes fueled by alcohol and drugs. Although this case could easily be seen as just another violent crime, the possibility of it being a hate crime is equally likely, being the actions of two angered and previously violent and convicted young men. Furthermore, it is said that at the time, the three involved were going on a "beer run" at the time of the crime, opening the door to the presence of alcohol into the situation. In any event, there is nothing ruling out the possibility of alcohol. In that situation, regardless of his affiliation with a diverse gang and his friendship with McClelland, Finley and his accomplice, under the influence could just have easily have committed this act with the intent of being a hate crime. With our without physical evidence, the circumstances still leave a large possibility of racism being a key factor in this crime.

The possibility of a hate crime having occurred in the case of Brandon McClelland is still open to investigation, however, there seems to be overwhelming evidence to demonstrate that was, in fact, a driving force in the past events. It is often seen that they occur in locations where negative stereotypes are prevalent. The unchanging nature of these stereotypes leads to underlying racism and degradation, which may not be present in tangible evidence. This, however, does not mean that the racial hate crime has not occurred in such situations. The circumstances alone leave a strong inclination for this case and similar cases to be seen as such, through those committing the act, the location and the events surrounding the act. It would not be wrong to assume that many other hate crime cases have occurred in similar situations, making it reasonable to claim that this crime, as well as those like it, can logically be seen as racial hate crimes.