What exactly is a "hate crime"?

Question

What criteria must be met to achieve the designation of "hate crime"?
All crimes are specific acts against another party. Hate is a subjective term.

Answer 1

Hate crime (n.)
A crime motivated by prejudice against a social group

So the test you are seeking is this: Was the motivation behind the crime the fact that the victim was (fill in the blanks)-- Black, White, Rich, Short, Catholic, Boy Scout, Lesbian, Republican, etc.

To apply the test, check the motivation...not the crime. What caused the perpetrator to commit the crime?

Answer 2

Each of the 50 States will define it differently. Here's what I got from Britannica:

harassment, intimidation, or physical violence that is motivated by a bias against characteristics of the victim considered integral to his social identity, such as his race, ethnicity, or religion. Some relatively broad hate-crime laws also include sexual orientation and mental or physical disability among the characteristics that define a hate crime.

Answer 3

It is almost comical, isn't it? It's a crime against someone because you don't like their ethnicity, religion, etc. So what the law is saying is, if you vandalize a stranger's property because of race, etc, it's a hate crime; but if you kill your husband because you hate him, that's not a hate crime!

In other words, a crime against someone who is different from you is more serious than a crime against someone who isn't.
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I agree, hate is somewhat subjective, but as you can see, neither the quality nor the quantity of hate is being measured.

Answer 4

If you are a white christian male and commit a crime against anyone who is not. That's a hate crime in the eye of the stinking ACLU

Answer 5

A hate crime is usually defined as a crime against another ethnic group of people.

Answer 6

Crime of aggravated assault, arson, burglary, criminal homicide, motor vehicle theft, robbery, sex offenses, and/or crime involving bodily injury in which the victim was intentionally selected because of the victims' actual or perceived race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity, or disability. That is a hate crime

But i think every crime should be a hate crime

Answer 7

Whites who stray into Black areas are alwyas attacked this is randon crime Hate crimes are when Whites stick up for their race. The government is anti White

Answer 8

If you have the mindset that God exists and everyone knows it deep down, then you would see atheists as people who try to deny the existence of God. It makes sense if you take it in that frame of mind. You could just as easily say that people who believe in God hate reality, which would imply the mindset of believing God isn't real. This is a good example of how the way we perceive reality is heavily based on our preconceived concepts and beliefs about it.

Answer 9

any crime that has occured just because the offender hates the person they are commiting the crime to. maybe they have ugly hair, or very nice shoes....any reason.

Answer 10

Spray painting racial slurs on someone of another race's house. Or beating someone because they are not like you. Whether they are handicapped or another ethnicity.