POVIS Blog #2

The term hate crime makes me cringe; not the term itself, but the story that almost always follows. Unfortunately we live in a world where people don't always get along based simply on some type of personal characteristic. Someone's of a different sexual orientation, someone's of a different color, someone speaks a different language, someone doesn't believe in the same deity or doesn't believe in one at all. Someone has a mental disability or a physical one; someone doesn't think or doesn't feel the way you do. People clash. Ideas clash. Hate.

I think hate springs mostly from misunderstanding and fear. I would love for everyone to take the time out to be educated on various cultures or ideas and beliefs but I know the vast majority of those committing these hate crimes wouldn't voluntarily do so. The prejudice runs too deep. And even if they had to undergo some court-ordered educational process, it wouldn't work for all. Then again nothing does.

Maine's hate crime laws protect a great deal of people who may be subject to hate crimes including the disabled and the lesbian and gay community. The state's website (maine.gov) has loads of general information on state laws and procedures, but this from the site has information on hate crimes committed in Maine for 2011 as reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Report (UCR). Particular emphasis is placed on motivation for the crime. As shown on the pie chart on the first page of the report, sexual orientation made up nearly half of motivating circumstances in the 58 incidents reported. Listed as the most common type of hate crime committed is vandalism and the most common place for the offenses is at a residence. The Portland, ME police department reported the most hate crimes as seen in the table on the final page of the report. 

The Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders organization, commonly known as GLAD, has a plethora of information on the rights of Maine citizens both homosexual and heterosexual and state laws pertaining to hate crimes. This information can be found here. It is important to recognize the "last updated" date at the top of the page listed as early 2010.

Hate is also not always aimed at one particular group. Take this man for example who plead guilty a few years back to an assault of a black man when a few years before that he had been served a civil injunction for a hate crime against a Jewish man.

As mentioned in the UCR, vandalism was the most common means of carrying out a hate crime. In 2012, Maine was seeing increased vandalism, including vandalism of places of worship - a Class D crime. In September, two synagogues were vandalized with spray painted swastikas and other religious symbols like an inverted cross with "666" around it. 

Hate is everywhere and it's gross. Even Maine, which as reported in my first blog entry, has one of the lowest crime rates in the country, has hate thriving in its cities. Someone's hate for a particular group or groups isn't going to go away just because of incarceration. This may be a case where rehabilitation works best. Programs geared toward educating individuals on the cultures of the world may be a solution. Sort of like a Batter's Intervention Program for hate crime offenders. As I pointed out above, nothing works for everyone, but it seems like the most reasonable conclusion. Or maybe just some counseling that says "Hey! Not everyone is alike. Not everyone is going to be like you. Let's figure out a way for you to deal with that!"

Now, I'll leave you with some "Faith in Humanity" posts from this great site called Pinterest! Maybe you've heard of it? It's pretty great. These posts all have something or other to do with hate and discrimination.