Alaina Madeline
Professor Coggin
Panel Discussion Essay 3
Word Count: 1637
March 20, 2015
Realities Behind Hate Crimes
Hate crimes have been going on at least as far back as history can take us, and the
FBI has been investigating them since World War I. According to the United States
Department of Justice (2014), a hate crime is defined as “the violence of intolerance and
bigotry, intended to hurt and intimidate someone because of their race, ethnicity, national
origin, religious, sexual orientation, or disability.” With this definition hate crimes cover a
fairly large spectrum of individuals and with every state having different laws on how to
punish crimes and how to handle them, there has been increased issues with the
occurrence and resolution of hate crimes.
Moderator: This discussion with the panelists I will introduce shortly will help provide
some insight and clarity on hate crimes, why they happen, and how they can be prevented.
As previously stated, hate crimes have been an ongoing issue around the world, and
especially in American culture. With the rise of police brutality crimes seen in the news
over the past few years, it is growing more and more important to cut down on these
crimes and hate crimes as a whole. What these panelists say will not change our culture,
but perhaps they can offer some understanding and ideas about how things can change. By
the time we conclude later on, the panelists and I hope to have provided an inside look on
how crimes are solved and how professionals seek to make a change.
Now on to the panelists, tonight we have Dr. Paul Brantingham, Dr. Mark Walters,
and Attorney General Eric Holder. Dr. Brantingham is a criminology professor at Simon
Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada, as well as co-director for the Institute for
Canadian Urban Research Laboratory. Two of his areas of expertise are environmental
criminology and crime analysis. Next, Dr. Walters is a Senior Lecturer in hate crimes and
law criminology at the University of Sussex. Dr. Walters received his doctorate in the
criminology of law, with his thesis focusing on restorative justice for hate crimes. And
finally, Eric Holder is the Attorney General and has been in this position since 2009 as
appointed by President Obama. Before this current position, Mr. Holden served as an
associate judge of the D.C. Superior Court, a U.S. attorney, and legal advisor in President
Obama’s campaign. Thank you panelists for taking time out of your immensely busy
schedules to talk about this grave topic, now let’s get into it.
The first question will be for Dr. Brantingham, what exactly is environmental
criminology, and how does to apply to solving crimes?
Dr. Brantingham: Environmental criminology is a relatively new and developing field of
criminology which I helped create in 1981 that specialized on the social characteristics of
crime scenes, locations of a crime in association with its surroundings, the movements that
bring the offender and victim together at the crime site, and the perceptual processes that
lead to the choice of crime site. Through my research, I look at the surroundings and try to
think what the offender was thinking when picking where to attack, or if a victim was lured
into a dangerous situation. One of my colleagues, Robert Wortley (2008), discusses how
this field of environmental criminology takes these crimes sites and analyzes all immediate
surroundings to see how it all affects behavior; through this research it has been found that
some environments are criminogenic (p. 2). If a location is criminogenic, it is almost like a
hot spot for crime, and these factors that cause “hot spots” facilitate criminal activity which
can help the police target locations to be aware of, have extra patrol at, or even try to
change factors of the environment.
Moderator: Very interesting, so it sounds like an approach considering more external
factors. Dr. Walters, how does your line of research differ from that of Dr. Brantingham?
Dr. Walters: My work is similar, and on a big case, Dr. Brantingham and I might work side
by side, but my work is more refined on hate crimes and focuses more on racial profiling. I
also look at a holistic view, similar to Dr. Brantingham, with a focus more on environmental
and confounding factors, but I use more than one specific criminological theory. In a paper I
published in 2011, I specifically investigated hate crimes using three different theories of
criminology. My work uses pieces of work from Dr. Brantingham and others in different
criminology fields and combines them to help get a rounded view and look at the different
aspects of a hate crime.
I also study restorative justice as part of my work with hate crimes. Restorative
justice is just repairing the harm caused by crimes based on the need of the victims and
offenders. In my book Hate Crime and Restorative Justice, I discuss more in depth the effects
hate crimes have on a society, for example the simple fact that a crime was motivated by
hate over any other factor is inherently more dangerous to the members of the community
(2014). For example, World War II, the fact that Jews and Gypsies were being persecuted
for their beliefs sent even the world into a panic and scare and Hitler became that much
more dangerous as a leader of his country.
Moderator: I see, so your research not only studies the environment around hate crimes
specifically, but also the community wellness after the crimes. Attorney General Holder, can
you speak on behalf of the law or even the government on what you have seen come across
your desk or come in your court room regarding hate crimes?
Mr. Holder: As many of you know, I have turned in my resignation as Attorney General, but
before I leave, hate crimes have been and will be a big point for me before I leave. When I
became Attorney General in 2009, I made my first step in the fight to eliminate hate crimes
speaking on behalf of the Matthew Shepard Hate Crime Prevention Act, which allows “the
Justice Department to provide assistance to state and local authorities in the prosecution of
hate crimes” (Frieden, 2009). I also think there should be a standard to how much evidence
there is in a case for the case to go to a federal court. Simply that there needs to be a basic
standard of proof to ensure the government can serve as a better “backstop” in the process
of investigating these cases (Allen, 2015).
Moderator: I am sure the audience, as well as myself, is interested in the government side
of the situation and how officials look at handling this national outbreak.
I have one final question and it is open to all panelists, in you professional opinion,
how can hate crimes be prevented?
Dr. Brantingham: In environmental criminology we focus on crime sites and how to make
them less prone to criminal activity but our main focus through our research is not crime
prevention. However, the research I have done has leaded me to believe that there has to
be a cultural change. Based on my research, the environment that hate crimes occur in is
intolerant and aggressive. The crime sites I was speaking about earlier, those can be
changed and altered in a way that is less conducive to crime and give law enforcement the
tools they need to make the site less crime-prone.
To go along with hate crime prevention, I would like to see more environmental
criminologists and more activists against hate crimes to do research. No one likes to hear
about crimes based on prejudice, and based on even having this panel, Americans don’t like
the fact that it’s happening. As a nation we need to do our part on eliminating the hatred
and prejudice because that is the root of this whole issue.
Dr. Walters: I would agree with Dr. Brantingham. Our environment has to change. Based
on my research in November 2011, children who grow up learning that power and
authority are critical to human interactions tend to be those who grow up with an
inclination to act criminally on those they perceive as weak. With this research, it’s hard to
say how to prevent it without delving into parenting; however, if we as adults change the
way we view each other and the way our culture is then it will pass on to the next
generation.
Mr. Holder: I will also agree with my fellow panelists, but in a different way. As already
stated, it’s the American culture, but legislation can also engage more. Laws can be made to
make a clear and concise definition of what a hate crime is and the punishment, just like
any other crime. Since hate crimes are an especially touchy subject, it can often be
challenging to handle these crimes. Our society has to change for any crimes to be
eliminated, but for justice to be served there has to be laws that set a standard for crime
prosecution.
Dr. Brantingham: We don’t live in a perfect society, crimes will unfortunately continue to
happen, but if everyone does their part to keep a positive environment in the sense that
violence is not the go to choice for aggression, then we can decrease the number of crimes
as a whole.
Moderator: To reiterate what the panelists just said, the world is not going to change
today, but if there’s something to take away it’s that we are in control of changing our
culture. Tonight’s panel gave compelling perspectives of hate crimes but it is up to the
audience to take what they’ve heard and make a change.
I would like to thank our panelists for discussing with us this heavy and
controversial topic with us.
References
Allen, M. (2015, February 17). Eric Holder's parting shot: It's too hard to bring civil rights
cases. Retrieved March 19, 2015, from http://www.politico.com/story/2015/02/ericholder-civil-rights-interview-mike-allen-115575.html
Brantingham, P. (1981). PUBLICATIONS (P. Brantinham, Ed.). Retrieved March 7, 2015,
from https://www.ncjrs.gov/App/Publications/abstract.aspx?ID=87681
Frieden, T. (2009, June 25). Holder pushes for hate-crimes law; GOP unpersuaded.
Retrieved March 19, 2015, from
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/06/25/holder.hate.crimes/index.html?iref=24
hours
Gerstenfeld, P. (2004). Hate crimes: Causes, controls, and controversies. Thousand Oaks, CA:
Sage Publications.
Hate Crime. (2014, June 23). Retrieved March 19, 2015, from
http://www.justice.gov/crs/hate-crime
PUBLICATIONS. (n.d.). Retrieved March 7, 2015, from
https://www.ncjrs.gov/App/Publications/abstract.aspx?ID=176143
Walters, M. (2011, November 1). A General Theories of Hate Crime? Strain, Doing
Difference and Self Co. Retrieved March 7, 2015, from
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10612-010-9128-2#page-2
Walters, M. (2014, June 1). Hate Crime and Restorative Justice: Exploring Causes, Repairing
Harms. Retrieved March 19, 2015, from
http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199684496.001.
0001/acprof-9780199684496
Wortley, R. (2008). Environmental criminology and crime analysis. Cullompton, Devon, UK:
Willan Pub. (2-20).