According to some right wing bloggers, an apparently low rate of conviction means that hate crimes don't really matter.
Sure - unless you are the victim of a hate crime. In which case it is all too real.
Getting the tar kicked out of you because someone thinks you are gay, belong to the wrong religion or whatever is all too real, and if the motive can be demonstrated as being 'hate related' there is a legitimacy to adding that to the list of convictions.
Hate crime statistics are troublesome because hate crimes themselves are notoriously under reported, and it is extremely hard to get a conviction because in order to demonstrate that the crime was in fact a hate crime, the prosecution must demonstrate motive - something that most prosecutors find extremely difficult to accomplish.
Hate crimes are the tool of the bully. The bully in this case seeks to intimidate not just the victim, but other members of the same "group" as the victim. While word of a hate crime is likely to spread within the community of the victim, few among minority communities are willing to draw attention to themselves - which makes it less likely that the crime will actually be reported.
This does not mean that the crimes do not occur, nor does it mean that they are any less serious than other crimes against the person (or their property). The legal concept of "hate crime" is simply a way for the legal system to recognize a serious aggravating factor in the offense. A low frequency of reporting, and similarly lower still numbers of convictions does not invalidate the legal constructs involved.
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And victims do not always want to have the group they belong to formally recognized for fear of further victimization.
Not too many years ago GBLT would quietly accept and hide crimes committed against them so that they would not be persecuted by unsympathetic police and emergency officials. After all, if you know that there is a high probability that you will be victimized a second time, and that the hate crime will be shrugged off... well, wouldn't you stop at one lump?
These things also have an odd way of leaking out - at one time GBLT could be outed when they spoke with police and 'mysteriously' the word got around to family, acquantances and employers, resulting in a conspiracy of silence where the victims in essence become an accomplice to the hate crime.
I would even go so far as to suggest that many people keep things like political views under wraps for fear of reprisals and sanctions - I know in my workplace it can be wise to keep my liberal leanings quiet - especially when I know that some of my customers and clients are raving loons. Err, I mean true blue left wingers.
I dare say that it still happens to a number of groups that are not sanctioned by society.
Our society supports bullies - take a look at the nod that was given to Chandler this weekend. Great news! We're going to watch a raving intolerant homophobe try to take over from a seat in the legislature. (But it's all OK - after all, the man purports to be "Christian".) Is it too late to move?
...and the beat goes on.
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