Hate Crimes: A New/Old Problem

Abstract

Hate Crimes—crimes motivated by prejudice, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation—are generally believed to have increased globally in recent years. In the United States, traditional racist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan have been joined by “neo-Nazi skinheads” and other extremist collectives known for their use of violence and intimidation. Several new initiatives have been undertaken to counter this phenomenon. By now all but a few states have enacted laws against hate crimes and an increasing number of law enforcement agencies have added Hate Crime Units to their departments. Unprecedented efforts are being made, especially at the federal level, to compile and disseminate statistical information on bias-motivated crimes. This paper reviews and assesses some of the more recent developments and policies in different jurisdictions and concludes that despite the new efforts underway, hate crimes represent a challenge to law enforcement that still needs to be met.