Hate Crime Critical Concepts in Criminology - MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Hate Crime Critical Concepts in Criminology. Answer: Introduction The article which has been selected for the purpose of this assignment is in relation to mass shooting which took place in a Quebec mosque on Sunday, January the 29th where six people had been killed and five were injured critically. The suspect in relation to the attack has been identified as Alexandre Bissonnette who was a student of Universit Lava. The suspect is a resident of Tracel St. in the Cap-Rouge district of Quebec City. It has also been provided by the article that the suspect was known to various activist in relation to Pro-Le Pen and anti-feminist activities on social networks. The suspect has been charged with attempted murder and first degree murder by the police. The article is in relation to victims who have suffered due to criminal activities. The victims in relation to this attack were those people who were silently and peacefully practicing their religious faith. The attacks have been condemned by several eminent people including the Pope and the Prime Minister o f Canada (News, 2018). The purpose of this assignment is to analyze the criminal activity provided through the article in the light of criminology theories. The paper argues that these criminal activities are a result of intolerance. The paper provides a literature review in relation to the issue of intolerance in the society. The paper also discusses two theoretical perspectives of criminology in order to analyze the articles which are Anomie theory and Differential Association Theory. The thesis statement of this paper is that where little moral guidance is not provided by the society to the individuals it leads to criminal activities such as hate crimes. Literature Review Introduction This part of the paper conducts a review of literature in relation to the factor of intolerance in the society. This is because it is prima faice clear from the article that the criminal activity has been resulted out of intolerance which the accused had towards the community of the victims. The shooting was given effect by the accused when the victims were peacefully practicing their religious faith by offering prayers in a Mosque. This makes it clear that the accused was intolerant towards Muslims. When people are intolerant towards others and where they are not provided adequate guidance they indulge in criminal activities (DeKeseredy, 2010). Hate crime According to Perry et al. (2106) hate crime is an act of violence in relation to bigotry and intolerance which has the intention of intimidating or hurting a group or individual because of their ethnicity, race, national origin, disability or sexual orientation. A hate crime us also referred to as a bias crime which is a criminal offence is which the purveyors of hate use arson, explosives, vandalism, weapons, verbal threat or physical violence to create panic and fear in the victims which subjects them to more attacks along with a feeling of helplessness, fear, suspicion and feeling alienated. In addition the victims may also become angry and agitated where they attain the perspective that no help would be provided to them by the local community or government. This is one of the primary reasons why crime in relation to intolerance and hate is left unreported. In the situation those who are intolerant and perpetrators of hate roam free without any prosecution and their criminal activ ities weaken healthy race relations in the society. Out of all criminal activists, tension is created and exacerbate mostly likely through hate crimes. These situation have the potential of triggering wider civil distribution, riots and racial conflicts. These criminal activities subject the society to serious economic and social consequences. Hate or intolerance based crime result in an immediate cost of overtime by police, fire or medical personnel overtime along with injury, death and damage to vehicles, properties and equipments. As provided by the Bureau of Justice Statistics 48% of the hate crime have the motive of racial bias and almost one third of the victims expressed that they had been targeted due to the ethnicity or gender. In addition as provided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), in Hate Crime Statistics 2015 out of 5493 offenders indentified 48.4% of the offenders where white. As stated by Walters (2014) hate crimes are committed by some perpetrators along with their peers for thrill under the influence of a lcohol or drug. Few crimes are committed in relation to perceived threat or protecting their turf. These Criminal activities also result out of growth in economic power of a particular racial group or the engagement of an ethnic group in scrape goating. Causes and Motivation of hate crime As stated by Bean (2017) there are various causes which help to explain various types of hate crimes. Few of the reasons have been discussed in this part of the paper. Thrill seeking The crimes are mostly motivated through the immature itch of creating drama and excitement. For instance those who are drunk and bored often indulge in such activities. According to Walters, (2014) mostly there is no real reason in relation to hate crimes. These crimes are committed for the thrill of it and the victims are made vulnerable only because of their ethnic, sexual, gender and religious traits are different from those who attack them. In addition the attackers in relation to these crimes feel that they society is ignorant about the victims and there is a high chance that their assault is going to be applauded. The attackers in relation to these crimes are very young but that are also very dangerous. Defensive In hate crimes the attackers feel that they are defending their turf such as their country, workplace or neighborhood. These attackers justify their activities as an attempt to keep perceived threats at bay. On various occasion these events have been triggered due to the moving of a black or Muslim family in the neighborhood. Just like thrill seekers little if any sense of remorse is depicted by the attackers who indulge in such defensive attacking. They believe honestly that there is a sort of communal assent in relation to their actions (Gabbidon, 2015). Retaliatory The hate crimes are mostly taken as revenge, either in relation to the response of personal slights or other hate crimes and terrorism. These avengers who often act alone, target the members of religious, ethnic or racial groups who they believe to have committed a crime even in case where they had nothing to do with such activities (Cowburn ey al., 2015). These people are only concerned about revenge and therefore with travel to the territories of the victims to give effect to the revenge. Acts of terrorism are spiked by these eye-for-an eye attacks. For instance after the 9/11 incident hate crime against Muslims and Arabs rose by 1600% and a similar spike had been witnessed after the Paris attacks. Mission offenders These are the rarest and the deadliest reason of hate crimes. People who consider themselves as "crusaders," for a religious or racial cause hate crimes for these rare reasons. There are on a mission to initiate a total war against the members of a religion or a rival race. They are often liked with those groups who have a racist perspective. Lengthy manifestos are written by mission offenders for explaining their views. They have a belief that the system is rigged against them, which motivates them to commit and justify violence against innocent victims (Milovanovic Schwartz, 2015). Theoretical perspective Anomie Theory As defined by DeKeseredy, (2010) the idea of anomie is the shortage of normal social and ethical standards. The concept was initially coined1893 when a book named The Division of Labor in Society had been launched by Emile Durkheimwho was a French sociologist. It had been indicated in the book that the laws in which individuals interact with one another are disintegrating and people were not able to find out how to behave with one another. Therefore it was believed by Durkheim that anomie is a state where there is unclear expectation in relation to behaviors and the system has broken down. The situation is described as normalessness. It had been claimed by Durkheim that deviant behavior has been caused by normalessness (Siegel, 2016). The theory is based on the perception that shortage of clarity and rules result in lack of purpose, worthlessness, frustration and despair. As there is no idea of what should be considered as desirable, striving for anything is going to be futile. In re lation to criminology the theory of anomie provides that criminal activities are selected by a person as they do not find any reason not to indulge in the activities. The person falls into criminal activities due to the lack of any foreseeable alternatives (Schwartz DeKeseredy, 2016). Differential association Theory The theory of differential association in relation to criminology had been developed by Edwin Sutherland who proposed that through interacting with others, values, techniques and attitudes are learnt by individuals which motivates criminal behavior (DeKeseredy, 2010). This is the most popular theory in relation to deviance. The theory emphasizes on the process through which individuals become criminals and not on the reasons why they become criminals (Piquero, 2015). The learning theory is associated with the interactionist perspective. The theory provides that it comes easy for the individuals to commit a crime based on what they learn through the society (Krohn Eassey, 2014). Discussion It has been provided through the article that the accused was a supporter of ideologies provided by Le Pen and also was an anti-feminist. Le Pen has ideologies that people who do not belong to a country must either stay by showing some merit or not stay in it at all. This means that the accused had hatred towards communities who did not belong to the country and the act has been committed by him in relation to the hatred and bias nature possessed by him. According to the literature review conducted above he has committed a hate crime because his motivation in relation to the crime is clear which is to defend his turf. The wrongdoer was not clear about the rules of the society, and in addition no guidance had been provided to him by the society which would have restrained him to commit such actions. According to the Anomie theory he did not find any reason not to indulge in the criminal activity. The society can therefore be said to be in a state of normalesness where the individuals do not have any ethical standards and are unclear in relation to what they should do and what they should restrain from. In addition as stated by the Differential association Theory individuals learn criminal activities form their surroundings such as what they gain from interacting with others. In the same way it can be stated that the number of increasing hate crimes in the society motivated him to commit the criminal activity. Therefore it can be stated that the motivation and reason why the criminal activity had been committed by the accused was due to the very nature of the society itself. He learnt about hate crimes form the numerous criminal activities going around him and in addition a lack of rules within the society in relation to interaction with each other fueled the criminal activity. It can thus be stated clearly that there is no the nature of the society itself provoked the accused to commit the criminal activity. The motivation was built when he was not guided in the initial stages where he indulged in Anti-feminist activities as well as a mentality of intolerance towards those who belong to a different community or racial group. Conclusion Where little moral guidance is not provided by the society to the individuals it leads to criminal activities such as hate crimes. The thesis has been evidently established through the application of the differential association theory and anomie theory. The society itself motivates criminal behavior by not setting out clear guidelines and providing string values to individuals against each other. Hate crime can only be addressed properly if these individuals are identified in initial stages where their hatred is growing towards other communities. They have to be counseled appropriately against such feelings and should be made to understand the benefits of diversity and harmony. References Bean, P. (Ed.). (2017). Hate Crime: Critical Concepts in Criminology. Routledge. Cowburn, M., Senior, P., Duggan, M., Robinson, A. (Eds.). (2015). Values in criminology and community justice. Policy Press. DeKeseredy, W. S. (2010). Contemporary critical criminology. Routledge. Gabbidon, S. L. (2015). Criminological perspectives on race and crime. Routledge. Krohn, M. D., Eassey, J. M. (2014). Integrated theories of crime. The encyclopedia of theoretical criminology. Milovanovic, D., Schwartz, M. D. (Eds.). (2015). Race, gender, and class in criminology: The intersections. Routledge. News, L. (2018). Quebec mosque shooting: update on the police operation. Montreal Gazette. Retrieved 3 January 2018, from https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/quebec-mosque-shooting-five-remain-in-critical-condition-following-attack Perry, B., Perry, J., Schweppe, J., Walters, M. (2016). Introduction: Understanding Hate Crime: Research, Policy, and Practice. Criminal justice policy review, 27(6), 571-576. Piquero, A. R. (Ed.). (2015). The handbook of criminological theory. John Wiley Sons. Schwartz, M. D., DeKeseredy, W. S. (2016). Critical criminology. The Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice. Siegel, L. J. (2016). Criminology: Theories, patterns and typologies. Boston. USA: Cengage. Walters, M. (2014). Hate crime and restorative justice: Exploring causes, repairing harms.