US has 7 400 hate crimes

[Woestynryer]

Washington - There were 7 400 hate crimes in the United States last year, more than half of them motivated by racial prejudice most often against black people, the federal bureau of investigation reported on Monday.

Hate crimes motivated by anti-black racial bias totalled 2 548 in 2003, more than double such crimes against all other racial groups combined.

There were 3 150 black victims in these cases, including four who were murdered, according to the annual FBI report.

The overall total of 7 489 hate crimes reported in 2003 was slightly above the number reported in 2002.

Nearly two-thirds of the crimes involved in such cases are intimidation, vandalism or property destruction.

But there were also hundreds of violent crimes, including 14 murders. There were more than 2 700 assaults, 444 bias-related robberies, burglaries and thefts, and 34 arson incidents.

783 crimes against gay men

The report shows that crimes categorised as anti-Islamic remained at the about same level in 2003 - 149 of them - as the year before.

There had been a spike in such crimes immediately after the 2001 terror attacks, helping drive the overall hate-crime number much higher that year.

By far the most hate crimes based on religion were directed at Jews, with 927 incidents in 2003, about the same as in 2002.

The report also found more than 1 200 hate crimes based on sexual orientation, including 783 against gay men. That included six murders.

The FBI hate-crimes report is drawn from information submitted by more than 11 900 law enforcement agencies around the country.

Only about 16% of those agencies reported any hate crimes in their jurisdictions during 2003.

http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_1625159,00.html

[Theja]

Hate crime is disgusting and unfortunate.

It's been on my heart for some time, and now I have put down a few organised words on a book project: to show that Sodom was not destroyed because of homosexuality. (Not that I endorse gay lifestyle, but that they deserve love and understanding, and Christians should be educated against bias on the issue).

The Bible is trustworthy: http://bibleplus.org/discoveries/sodomfound.htm

[Zachary]

These facts and figures are catagorically overblown in the overall scope of crime in the United States. They reach out to people, but simply looking at the data present one can see that for 7400 cases it spanned 11,900 law enforcement agencies. What is considered a hate crime is not defined in this data. Graffetti can be considered a hate-crime, using one word in the commission of a robbery is considered a hate crime. Hate crimes are very broadly defined. In any case the number 7400 is so miniscule when one looks at a general population of almost 300 million people. There is no proper scope to this data. It is not placed along side such figures as black on black crime or white on white crime. You would most assuredly see a very stark contrast.


Hate crime legislation is more akin to thought policing than actual law enforcement. There is no validity in punishing thought or expression. The only factor that should matter in any of these cases is the actual crime that was committed. Whether that crime is robbery, murder, vandalism, etc. People convicted of hate crimes often spend more time in jail for the hate crime than they would for the actual crime. When thought and expression are means for imprisonment the very foundations of free societies comes in to question. "You are free so long as you think this way" is not freedom. Governments should be tasked with punishing crimes, whether physical or against property, not punishing the thoughts of the perpetrators.

What one truly sees when looking at this "article" is the bias of the media and their never ending quest to fill our minds with "spectacular" stories. The press in the United States is decidedly liberal and what scant information that is presented here clearly slants to their agenda. You will notice that the only catagories of crimes that are high-lighted are those that were committed against blacks and homosexuals. Both of whom are mainstay liberal causes. You do not see anything about crimes committed upon whites. That does draw enough attention. Who were the 4 others that were murdered? Do their lives not mean anything if they don't fit the agenda? This is just another half-truth thrown to the masses in the hopes a greater agenda is embraced. Such drivel should outrage us all for not presenting all of the appropriate facts.

[rach2005]

Hi, I am new to this forum, just sort of stumbled upon it as I have always been intrested in South Africa since as long as I can remember, and am planning on a holiday sometime mid year 2008. So I have just been looking around the internet gathering all the infomation I can find.

Anyway as I realize I am about 3 years late on this thread I was just going through the forum seeing what it was all about, and stumbled across this thread. And as I agree with the post above, I am afraid that our media here in the USA like to find and exploit stories that will grab attention and I am certian that a lot of the time this gives a bad impression and a false representation of what it is like over here.

We are a very large country at 300 million, and our population is very very diverse and in some instances very multi racial, and I think for the most part, we are intergrated very good, and most of us are very open minded and accepting, and value diversity. I am white of English, Irish, and French descent, the familys I descended from came here circa the 1850's. But since then, my generation of my family have mixed with Hispanics, Black Americans, and Asians, which is very characteristic of a lot of North American families.

The area in which I was raised and live is like 40% white, 35% Hispanic,
23% Black American, 3% Asian, and a little less than half a % Native American. However, these statistics for the Native Americans are somewhat skewed in the fact that about 60 km north is an American Indian Nation, which with about 300,000 people is the largest Native American entiy in the country, so if you live near this area and in compared to the rest of the population, the Native Americans make up about 25% of the population.

I know we still have a lot of problems here and a lot of work to do, but for the most part we are a very mixed diverse society, and most of us like and appreciate this, and are very intrested in continuing on this path. I am sure we do still have hate crime, but as I have talked about, a lot of the time, our media goes looking for it, and sometimes even fabricates it, or will instigate an occurence, just to sell a story, and appease whatever demographic they are trying to appeal too.

good will to everyone,

-rache-

[legaleagle_2007]

WOW, that was amazing indeed.

Great. YOU SOUND TRULY A LIBERAL SOUL.

I like that idea of being pluralistic.

We Indians also have similar features in our country accomodating multi-cultural , multi- ethnic and multi-religious communities.

WELCOME TO INDIA ,THE LAND OF MIXTURE AND VARIETY.


best wishes,
LEGALEAGLE

[legaleagle_2007]

Hi folks,

Please watch the MOVIE........"crash".

An appealing concept and wonderfully made.

At times we learn more through movies too.

take care.

L.E

[legaleagle_2007]

Hi again,

IT IS A FILM Called "CRASH".

The film is about "racial discrimination,color blindness,hatred and individual opinions leading to larger catastrophe.

PLEASE DO WATCH .YELL AT ME...LOL

REGARDS.
L.E