The Symbolic Interactionalism Theory Of Hate Crime

Hate crimes are difficult to fathom, primarily because they involve the unprovoked physical attacking and, sometimes, murder of people based on race and ethnicity. A more formal definition of hate crimes is presented by Shepard (2017, p. 285). As he writes, â€Å"a hate crime is a criminal act that is motivated by extreme prejudice,† This is a very good, concise and accurate definition, nevertheless, hate crimes are not the outcome of unimaginable heights of discrimination. Most people have prejudices and many have stereotypes regarding others, whether it be racial or class stereotypes. Nobody is completely lacking in any form, shape or type of prejudice but, the much greater percentage does not physically attack, beat or murder those whom they†¦show more content†¦Between 2006 to 2017, as reported by O’Reilly, hate crimes targeting Muslims has increased by an outstanding 91%. The average increase in all forms of hate crimes rose by 41% between 2016-2017 (Fariv ar, 2017). Hence, inarguable statistics and numbers establish a very high rate of increase in hate crimes, most especially during 2016-2017, coinciding with the campaign and subsequent election of Donald Trump. There are many theories of crime, with criminologists, psychologist and sociologists, debating whether criminality is an an outcome of nature, as in genetically inherited, or produced by nurture (Brinkerhoff, White and Ortega, 2011). Even though the debate is ongoing, most criminologists, sociologists and psychologists agree that cases in which criminality is linked to nature, are extremely rare. Instead, they emphasise, criminality as a product of nurture (Brinkerhoff, White and Ortega, 2011). This means that people who commit heinous hate crimes were presumably raised in an environment which expressed extreme prejudice towards a certain racial, ethnic or religious group and truly believed that the world would be a better place without them in it, or, at least, without them living in the United States (Brinkerhoff, White and Ortega, 2011). As indicated, hate crimes can be explained through the use of theory and, one such theory is the symbolic interactionism theory. As criminologists were engaged in attempting to