How to Identify a Hate Crime

The term "hate crime" is relatively new to the American lexicon, but unfortunately, hate crimes themselves, have existed for much longer. Although hate crimes are generally committed in the same manner as conventional crimes, learning to set them apart, can help to prevent future, bias-motivated crimes.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

1. Identify a hate crime by asking yourself if the crime victimizes not only the target of the crime, but a group that the victim represents, such as their religion, nationality, sexual orientation, ethnicity or gender. A hate crime is a bias-motivated crime that can instill fear and cause the suffering and humiliation of the members of an entire group.
   
   
2. Listen to the person who committed the crime. If the individual's personal experience with members of a specific group, has motivated their criminal act, they may have committed a hate crime. This personal experience can include factors as broad as the economic and political conditions that exist in the individual's neighborhood or country, which create tension between different religious, ethnic or racial groups.
3. Recognize that a hate crime does not necessarily involve murder, an violent attack or destruction of property, but may be more subtle. Harassment and intimidation are also possible ways in which a hate crime can be perpetrated.

Tips & Warnings

• If you feel that you or someone you know is the victim of a hate crime, report the crime immediately. Many victims of hate crimes feel shame, guilt or fear and fail to report it. By reporting a hate crime, you are not only helping yourself or someone you know, but are helping to prevent future crimes from being committed.