Hate Crimes in America
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Depending upon where you live, a hate crime is a criminal act which is motivated by someone's bias or hatred of a person's or group's perceived race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or other characteristics. In America we are beginning to see more and more hate crimes almost daily. Not only is it like a growing community in and of itself, but it is something that is devastating many families all over the country. For the purpose of this paper I will be focusing on gay hate crimes in America, though there are many other groups which are the targets of hate crimes. In this paper I will be discussing the history of gay hate crimes, current research, and the conclusion to why this is such a problem in the United States.
Though one may think that before their time hate crimes were never a problem, it actually extends back to the time of the Romans when they persecuted the Christians. History is full of examples including; the Nazis' "final solution," for the Jews, and even more so "ethnic cleansing," in Bosnia and genocide in Rowanda. As Europeans began to colonize the New World in the 16th and 17th centuries, Native Americans increasingly became the target of bias-motivated intimidation and violence. The list can go on and on. Over the years hate crimes have definitely shaped the history we have learned throughout our years in school...