Episode #3: Hate Crimes
Hate crimes have devastating impacts on individuals, communities, and society. Victims often suffer physical and emotional harm, leading to trauma and decreased sense of safety. Hate crimes also fuel fear, division, and mistrust within communities, contributing to social inequalities and damaging social cohesion. They erode trust in law enforcement and the justice system and have negative implications for economic development. Additionally, hate crimes perpetuate harmful stereotypes and attitudes toward targeted groups. Combating hate crimes through education, advocacy, and community engagement is crucial to promote inclusivity, tolerance, and a society that rejects hate and embraces diversity.
This episode features an interview from March 1993 with Attorney Rodney Max, a member of the Coalition Against Hate Crimes. They discuss the trial of a hate crime killing of a homeless person in Birmingham. He offers positive solutions to the problem. He says, "Before I prejudge you, let me get to know you." Learn more.
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Federal Bureau of Investigation
Audio TranscriptL
Mr. Schiff: Hello, I’m Neal Schiff, and welcome to Inside the FBI, a weekly podcast about news, cases, and operations. Today we’re talking about hate crimes.
Ms. Deitle: “The FBI can investigate instances of racial discrimination, religious discrimination, especially those against a religious structure like a church, a mosque, or a synagogue.”
Mr. Schiff: Hate crimes have been around a long time, and the FBI takes these horrific crimes seriously. Supervisory Special Agent Cynthia Deitle is the Acting Chief of the Civil Rights Unit in the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division.
Ms. Deitle: “A hate crime under most state and federal statutes is a crime which is committed against a person or property and which is motivated in whole or in part by the perpetrators’ bias or animus against the victim’s race or religion or national origin or disability.”
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
Preventing Youth Hate Crimes & Bullying National Symposium
The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) has launched a comprehensive national initiative to prevent youth hate crimes and identity-based bullying. Operating from a youth-based lens that focuses on prevention and early intervention, OJJDP is taking a multipronged approach through this initiative to:
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Increase awareness of youth hate crimes and bias-based bullying.
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Identify best practices and evidence-based strategies to build protective factors in youth and help youth resist and disengage from extremist hate groups.
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Ensure youth have a voice on the topic of hate crime and an opportunity for partners to work meaningfully with and for young people.
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Provide grantees, interested communities, and the field at large tools to change the attitude and behavior of young hate-crime offenders and at-risk youth.
This initiative kicked off October 27, 2021, with a 2-day virtual symposium. It is followed by a series of 13 webinars. The initiative includes national youth roundtables, the development of a youth hate crime prevention curriculum, and a synthesis of findings in a special report and an associated fact sheet...
Joseph G. Ponterotto, Shawn O. Utsey & Paul B. Pedersen
Preventing prejudice: A guide for counselors, educators, and parents. (Vols. 1-2)
Part 1 of Preventing Prejudice includes three introductory chapters that serve to define prejudice and racism, review important historical perspectives on the origins and development of prejudice, and highlight the consequences of racist behavior to both the targets and perpetrators of racism and prejudice. Collectively, these three chapters provide a firm foundation that will allow the reader to digest and integrate the remaining parts of the book...
Southern Poverty Law Center
The starting point for understanding hate crimes and their impact is to recognize that criminal activity motivated by bias is different from other criminal conduct. First, these crimes occur because of the perpetrator’s bias or animus against the victim on the basis of actual or perceived status. The victim’s race, religion, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, or disability is the reason for the crime. In the vast majority of these crimes, absent the victim’s personal characteristic, no crime would occur at all.
The United States Department of Justice
Access a Comprehensive Collection of DOJ’s Hate Crimes Resources
The New York Times