Hate In America: What Do We Know?
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American Sociological Association
Documents from a press conference
AUGUST 6, 1999
Chicago, IL
Moderator:
James F. Short, Jr., PhD
Speakers
Valerie Jenness, PhD
Abby Ferber, PhD
Ryken Grattet, PhD
An Overview of the Problem
In recent months a stream of violent incidents has brought attention
to the issue of hate crimes. The names of the people and places involved
remind us of the worst aspects of human societies: James Byrd, Matthew
Shepard, Billy Jack Gaither, Columbine, the Sacramento Synagogue Arsons,
Jonesboro, and Benjamin Nathaniel Smith. White supremacist organizations
have been on the rise throughout the 1990s. Attracting many angry and
frustrated white men, these groups rearticulate our nation's most pressing
problems in terms of race.
While some consider the 1990s to be the decade of hate, or at least
of hate crime, hate crime is perhaps better characterized as an age-old
problem with a new sense of urgency. During the 1980s and 1990s, multiple
social movements devoted considerable material and symbolic resources
to the problem. Government task forces analyzed the issue. Legislative
campaigns have sprung up at every level of government. New sentencing
rules and categories of criminal behavior have been established in law.
Prosecutors and law enforcement have developed training policies and
specialized enforcement units. The U.S. Supreme Court weighed in with
its rejection of one statutory formula and acceptance of another. Scholarly
commentary and social science research on the topic has exploded.
These extraordinary developments attest to the growing concern with
and public visibility of violence motivated by bigotry, hatred, or bias.
They reflect the increasing acceptance of the idea that criminal conduct
is "different" when it involves an act of discrimination. "Hate
crime" has clearly secured a place in the American public sphere.
In the process, criminal conduct that was once undistinguished from ordinary
crime has been parsed out, redefined, and condemned more harshly than
before. Read More...
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