Take Action Hate Crime

5-2 Victim Issues Journal: Disability and Hate Crime

Previous Next
Instructions
Throughout the term, you will be asked to report on various elements of victimology by completing a journal assignment that addresses various scenarios, cases, essays, and research. All journal assignments will be done within the assignment tool. You will have specific, defined titles for each assignment. Your title should be the main header on your assignment. When you name your journal assignment, please use the provided title and follow the instructions on what to include in your original assignment.

The article “Taking Action Hate Crime” examines hate crime against people with disabilities, a crime that has been frequently underreported. Similar issues have been reported in the United States. Explore this topic. What impact does this category of hate crime have on victims and their families? How could some of the article suggestions for combating this crime be applied to deal with other hate crimes in the United States?

Take Action Hate Crime
Hate crimes describe any form of hate-motivated offense against an individual based on race, sexual orientation, ethnicity, or disability. The rates of abuse perpetrated towards persons with developmental disabilities are frequently on the rise compared to those without disabilities in the united states. Persons classified to be disabled may include those with autism, mental retardation, the blind, impaired hearing, among others (Ralph, 2016). They are highly susceptible to sexual abuse, verbal abuse, violence, and online abuse from strangers and even people familiar with them. Among these crimes, only a few of them are reported to law enforcement officials. Even fewer cases get prosecuted since most of the testimonies from persons with a mental disability are regarded as vague.
Over time, American society had made advances towards curbing hate crimes projected toward disabling people. They strive to fight for fair treatments of persons with developmental disabilities in societal institutions such as in health care facilities, schools, or business entities and the criminal justice system. However, there is still an abundance of evidence illustrating the basis of hate crimes against people with disabilities widely misunderstood. However, these crimes’ magnitude is worrying since the crimes are under-reported (Whine, 2019).
The family of the hate crimes victims strive to access justice for their loved ones; it remains one of the most significant challenges. While they are already suffering the burden of taking care of the disabled person, taking care of victims of hate crimes is an additional challenge. Most of them thrust a third party, in this case, a family member to whom they tend to report tier to hate crime incidents rather than to law enforcement. Notably, over time, they have been policies and codes enacted to encourage these people with disabilities to come forward and repot any form of injustice or hate projection towards them (Chakraborti, 2018).
References
Chakraborti, N. (2018). Responding to hate crime: Escalating problems, continued failings. Criminology & Criminal Justice, 18(4), 387-404.
Ralph, S., Capewell, C., & Bonnett, E. (2016). Disability hate crime: Persecuted for the difference. British Journal of Special Education, 43(3), 215-232.
Whine, M. (2019). Cooperation between criminal justice agencies and civil society in combating hate crime. Crime, Law, and Social Change, 71(3), 275-289.