a crime from a bias crime, better known as hate crime. “A bias motivated offense can cause a broad ripple of discomfiture among members of a targeted group, and violent hate crime can act like a virus quickly spreading feelings of terror and loathing across an entire community.” In a radio address to the nation on June 7, 1997, President Bill Clinton said, “hate crimes…leave deep scars not only on the victims, but on our larger community. They weaken the sense that we are one people with common values and a common future. They tear us apart when we should be moving closer together. They are acts of violence against America itself.”In recent studies performed under the supervision of the Bureau of Justice Assistance, results have shown that the majority of hate crime offenders are young white males (5). A majority of the crimes that they take part in are motivated toward a person of another race. Studies have shown that most hate crime is performed by individual citizens rather than by organized hate groups. Most of these citizens are believers of racial and ethnic stereotypes and act on spur-of- the-moment impulses (x). Although these perpetrators are not members of an organized hate group, almost half confessed to joining a bias-motivated confrontation (21). The American Psychological Association’s research finds that “most hate crimes are carried out by otherwise law-abiding young people who see little wrong with their actions.” The APA also states that in its findings, “extreme hate crime tends to be committed by people with a history of anti-social behavior.”There have been many hate crimes occur within the past few years, some being more publicized than others. Some recent examples in today’s society of hate crimes that have caught the world’s attention are the hate crimes against the following groups or people.On March 3, 1991 an African American m...
