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There's
no room in our society for bigotry and prejudice. Help your police department
prevent and prosecute hate crimes by reporting hate-motivated activity,
particularly where it may involve criminal behavior. Don't wait until someone is
harmed — be a crime preventer, not a crime enabler. Tell the police.
A hate crime is targeted criminal activity, usually motivated by
prejudice based on perceived personal characteristics of the victims. These
motivations may include race, religion, ethnicity, and sexual orientation. See
the end of this article for the FBI's guidelines as to what constitutes a
"hate crime".
Not limited to individual activity, many organizations have been labeled as
"hate groups" where their group objectives and activities promote
prejudicial behavior and even organized criminal activity targeting groups of
citizens.
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)
maintains a database of U.S. hate group activities. You can find a current list
of hate groups that may be active in your area by clicking
here or on the map, below.
Organizations that were known to be recently active, whether that activity
included marches, rallies, meetings, leafleting, publishing literature or
criminal activity, are included in the SPLC database.
Other Anti-Hate Links: (external
links)
Ten
Ways to Fight Hate
HateWatch
Cyberwatch
Anti-Defamation League
www.civilrights.org
Not In Our Town
Klanwatch
Stop The Hate
FBI UCR Hate Crime Reports
Southern Poverty Law Center home page
FBI
Guidelines
The FBI Hate/Bias Motivation Guidelines
to law enforcement agencies for determining what constitutes a hate crime:
Because of the difficulty of ascertaining the offender's subjective motivation,
bias is to be reported ONLY if the investigation reveals sufficient objective
evidence of biased motivation to meet a probable cause type standard.
Bias is a preformed negative opinion or attitude toward a group of people based
on race, religion, ethnic/national origin, sexual orientation, or disability.
Hate crime is a criminal offense committed against a person or property which is
motivated by the offender's bias against
race, religion ethnic/national origin, sexual orientation, or disability.
MUST HAVE OBJECTIVE EVIDENCE
THAT THE CRIME IS MOTIVATED
BY BIAS
An important distinction must be made. The mere fact that the offender is
biased against the victim's race, religion, ethnic/national origin, sexual
orientation, or disability, doesn't mean that a hate crime was involved. Rather,
the offender's criminal act must have been motivated, in whole or part, by
his/her bias.
Therefore, before an incident can be reported as a hate crime, sufficient
objective facts must be present to meet a probable cause-type standard that the
offender's actions were motivated, in whole or part, by bias. While no single
factor may be conclusive, facts such as the following, particularly when
combined, are support for a finding of bias.
- The offender and the victim were of different race, religion,
ethnic/national origin, sexual orientation, or disabled.
Example:
the victim was black and the offender (s) were white.
- Bias-related oral comments, written statements, or gestures were made by
the offender which indicated his/her bias.
Example: the offender called the victim a
"Kike".
- Bias-related drawings, markings, symbols or graffiti were left at the
crime scene.
Example: a swastika was painted on the door of
a synagogue.
- Certain objects, items, or things, which indicated bias were used.
Example 1: the
offender (s) wore white sheets with hoods covering their faces, or left a
hooded white sheet behind.
Example 2: a burning cross was left in the
front yard of the victim's residence.
- The victim is a member of a racial, religious, ethnic/national origin,
sexual orientation group, or is disabled, who is overwhelmingly outnumbered
by members of another group, or in the neighborhood where the victim lives
and the offenses took place. This factor loses significance with the passage
of time.
Example: it is
most significant when the victim first moved into the neighborhood and
becomes less and less significant as time passes without an incident.
- The victim was visiting a neighborhood where previous hate crimes have
been committed against other members of his/her race, religion,
ethnic/national origin, sexual orientation group, or his disability, and
where tensions remain high against his/her group.
- Several incidents have occurred in the same locality, at or about the same
time, and the victim (s) were all of the same racial, religious,
ethnic/national origin, sexual orientation, or have disabilities.
- A substantial portion of the community where the crime occurred perceives
that the incident was motivated by bias.
- The victim was engaged in activities promoting his/her racial, religious,
ethnic/national origin, sexual orientation group, or those with
disabilities.
Example: the victim is a member of the NAACP,
or participated in a gay rights demonstration.
- The incident coincided with a holiday relating to, or a date of,
particular significance to a racial, religious, ethnic/national origin,
sexual orientation group, or those with disabilities.
Example: Martin Luther King Day, Rosh Hashana.
- The offender was previously involved in a similar hate crime or is a
member of a hate group.
- There were indications that a hate group was involved.
Example: a hate
group claimed responsibility for the crime or was active in the
neighborhood.
- A historically established animosity exists between the victim (s) group
or the offender (s) group.
Contact
Information:
For
more information on the Committee on Hate Violence, or to invite us to your
organization, school, business, or place of worship to discuss hate violence and
its prevention, please call the Office of the National Alliance at:
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- Telephone
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732-460-0804
- FAX
-
732-460-0804
- Postal address
-
879 West Park Avenue, Cobblestone Village #161, Ocean Twp. N.J. 07712
- Electronic mail
- General Information: mailto:NAOHCI@Aol.com
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