Hate Crimes Essay, Research Paper

What Hate Crime Laws Can Do

Hate crimes are on the rise all over the United States because there are so many different cultures, which do not get along. The majority of these crimes are occurring mostly in states where there are no hate crime laws or where the laws are not strict enough, which is why all states should have some type of law to prevent such crimes. Laws against hate crimes should exist in every state because these laws would deter people from committing crimes, punish those who committed the crime, and they would also give people a feeling of security.

These laws would help to prevent people from committing crimes because once they see what happens to other criminals, they would be reluctant to commit the same crime. Deterring people from committing hate crimes would help eliminate such brutal and deadly attacks like the ones that recently happened in Texas, Wyoming, and Los Angeles. Before anyone can stop these hate crimes completely they must be eliminated slowly. By eliminating groups like the KKK and the Neo-Nazis that play a huge role in these hate crimes, this would show progress of getting rid of hate crimes. Until gangs and hate groups are turned away from hurting and killing people nothing will happen to the reduction of hate crimes in the U.S. This is why all states need some type of law to help prevent hate crimes. Like Ms. Anders a policy associate for the National Conference of State Legislatures said,” They probably will have some deterrent effect”(Lyman 2).

People that commit these crimes should be punished for what they have done. How brutal the attack was should determine how severe the punishment should be. If a person kills an innocent victim like the cases of James Byrd Jr., and Matthew Shepard, they should get the death penalty. This is when hate crime laws should not come into effect, since the death penalty is the most severe penalty available. As Ms. Anders says,” Unfortunately, for the worst of these crimes, the kind that are heard of, these laws would probably have no effect. These surpass any law on the books, that’s death penalty”(Lyman 2). The punishment should also depend on how old the perpetrator is. If it is a young adult that committed a hate crime and it is his/her first conviction they should be put in a juvenile jail. They should also have to do to community service, and receive counseling that would teach them that hatred is wrong and what they are doing is wrong. But if it’s an adult that committed the hate crime, they should get at least 15yrs to life, a lot of counseling and plenty of community service. Maybe this would change their minds when they go out to hurt or kill someone because of a person’s race, religion, or sexual preference.

Finally, hate crime laws would give people a feeling of security. People may not feel completely secure since crimes are committed every day but laws would help. For example in Wyoming were there are no laws, people are fighting to get laws passed that would help prevent occurrences like the Shepard incident. Plenty of people there were worried when this happened but if laws are passed there maybe this will give the people of Wyoming a better feeling of security. Once they see the hate crimes going down that is when they will feel secure.

Hate crime laws should be passed in every state because they would turn people away from committing hate crimes. If the punishment for a hate crime were a harsh punishment then people would not want to face the consequences for hurting someone for their beliefs, or race. People would feel a lot more secure knowing these laws are out there and that these people are being punished for it.