Definition of Hate Crimes

Many crimes are related to economic interests or the desire for revenge. In recent decades other types of crimes have been incorporated into the legal framework, those committed out of hatred.

This modality of crime It occurs in various forms: attacks against personal integrity, violence physical, smear campaigns based on insult, etc.

The victims of hate

People with unconventional sexual tendencies, ethnic minority groups or foreigners are the most common victims of this criminal modality.

While the intolerance towards these groups is as old as humanity, the label of hate crimes (hate crime in English) began to used in the 1980s in the United States, when in some cities there were attacks against ethnic minorities and the principal reason of these violent acts was racial origin.

In this context, they began to speak of intolerance towards all those individuals or groups that were victims of hatred. With the passage of time, in the legislation In some countries, the legal concept of hate crimes was introduced.

The origin of these crimes is found in intolerance and social prejudice

There is no single cause that explains this type of behavior. However, it is possible to speak of two factors determinants: intolerance and social prejudice.

Someone is tolerant when he respects the opinions, beliefs, or biases of others. If a heterosexual person claims that he is tolerant of those who are heterosexual, his attitude is not really tolerant, since the idea of tolerance it must apply to the one that is different for some reason.

In other words, a heterosexual will be truly tolerant if he naturally accepts that others have sexual inclinations other than his own. In a society where intolerance is common, crime will also be common.

Prejudices towards all those considered different are a danger potential that can lead to crimes and hate crimes. Throughout history the mechanism of prejudice (having a prior opinion and judging others from there) has served to attack all kinds of groups or groups. collectives: Jews, Freemasons, foreigners, homosexuals, gypsies, blacks, whites, communists or anti-communists.

The list of those who have been victims of prejudice could be endless

In any case, prejudices work in an irrational way because you can only judge something after knowing it and not before. If prejudices are installed in the whole of a society, it is very likely that at some point hate crimes will occur.

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