Hate crime

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

As hate crime (English for "hate crime" hate crime ) are offenses refer to operations where the victim of the crime by the perpetrator intentionally according to the criterion of actual or suspected membership of a social group or a biological sex (26 states include gender as a victim feature with a) is chosen and the act is directed against the selected group as a whole or in this context against an institution, thing or object. For example, anti-Semitic , racist , sexist or xenophobic offenses can fall under the term, as well as offenses against members of other social groups such as the homeless , the disabled , gays, lesbians and transgender people . The term comes from the USA and has independent criminal law relevance in various countries around the world (e.g. in Great Britain).

In the US American technical debate, due to the lack of terminological clarity, the phenomenon is referred to as a bias crime ( prejudice-based offense, prejudice crime ), since prejudice (and not hate) is the guiding motive for actions. However, the term hate crime has become so prevalent in the media, politics and the population that a renaming seems hardly possible.

In individual cases it can be difficult to clearly classify a crime as a hate crime , as the subjective motives behind a crime are difficult to prove. But the act can also, for. B. as a war crime, assume the character of a hate crime if they are against the relatives of a z. B. targets the ethnically defined group to which the victim belongs or is assigned as belonging.

From the associated violent crime here, the dangerous threats and property damage to intimidate the mostly hate speech (hate speech) to define, which is often protected by the freedom of expression in different conditions.

Special effects

A handbook from the Attorney General of the Province of Ontario in Canada summarizes the specific effects of hate crimes as follows (supplemented by information from the American Psychological Association ):

  • Effects on the individual: Specific psychological and emotional suffering is inflicted, which has repercussions on the identity and self-esteem of the victim. Victims of hate crimes can be more affected by psychological after-effects and illnesses than victims of comparable acts of violence. With appropriate support, the consequences after the trauma can be reduced. In addition, the level of violence is often much more extreme than other acts.
    Hate crimes are reported less often by victims than comparable non-bias-motivated crimes, even if the perpetrator is known. This is often due to the traumatic experience, fear of retaliation, or the belief that law enforcement agencies themselves are prejudiced and would not offer support.
  • Impact on the target group: Whether intended or not, there is a general intimidating effect because the members of the community feel more vulnerable as a result of the event. The feeling of security and security can be lost and the mental health of the members can even be affected.
  • Effects on other vulnerable groups: It has similar effects on groups that are also minority status or identify with the affected group, especially when motivation is based on ideologies or doctrines that affect a larger number of groups.
  • Effects on the community as a whole: Hate crimes can lead to the division of people in a society who previously lived in harmony and equality with one another. Every hate crime is an attack on a multicultural society.

Origin of the term from US criminal law

The term hate crimes was developed in the context of the civil rights movements in the USA. It is thus initially a social construct that should guarantee the various social groups criminal protection against assault. Critics therefore see it simply as an extension of the civil rights paradigm into the world of crime and criminal law. Despite all the criticism, the term has been successful in the USA since the 1980s and is now legally relevant in almost all states. A model bill was of particular importance: In 1981 the Anti-Defamation League , National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Foundation, the National Institute for Prejudice and Violence and Southern Poverty Law Center published a bill that contained four key elements:

  1. Protection against vandalism by institutions,
  2. the increase in the sentence for crimes that are committed solely on the basis of certain characteristics of the victim,
  3. the possibility of civil action by the victim against the perpetrator in the event of corresponding acts
  4. the creation of a unified data collection at the state and federal level and specialized training for police officers in connection with such crimes.

The initiators were successful with this model bill. Not only did the US Supreme Court upheld the law in 1993, but almost all states have adopted at least one of the four sections to date. Today there are three forms of the central aspect of the tightening of sentences:

  1. The sentence for the underlying crime is doubled, sometimes even tripled.
  2. The penalty increase results from a conversion of the crime type from z. B. offense (misdemeanor) to crime (felony).
  3. Hate crimes are listed as a separate criminal offense.

Hate crime in the German legal system

The German criminal law knows no separately as hate crimes to qualifying offenses. In Germany, the definition of the term can only assume indirect relevance in case law if it is used in part or in full to classify a crime according to certain characteristics, for example to determine the particular gravity of the guilt or the low motives for murder. What speaks against the direct application of the term hate crimes in Germany is that a hate crime is generally viewed as more difficult to punish than a crime with a different motivation. In addition, the judicial assessment of the offender's motivation is viewed as a slide into criminal law of conviction . Finally, the question is whether the threat of increased penalties can prevent such acts: Criminal law as a last resort should contradict such symbolic learning messages; since it is young people who commit the acts, they would be disproportionately punished, contrary to the educational idea; This would encourage increased experiences of exclusion and disintegration.

In order to recognize and deal with these crimes, it is necessary to train the police as well as the courts. Due to a deficit in the practice of recording victims and the extent of right-wing extremist and xenophobic acts of violence in the Federal Republic of Germany, it was agreed with effect from January 1, 2001 that right-wing extremist crimes be recorded as “ politically motivated crime ”. In this context, a recording option was created under the heading “hate crime”, which records “ xenophobic ” and “ anti-Semitic ” crimes as a special subgroup . The aim was to ensure that these crimes are more clearly defined and reported centrally by the responsible police departments.

The Federal Government defines hate crime as politically motivated criminal offenses, the suspected motive for the perpetrator in the

"Political attitude, nationality, ethnicity, race, skin color, religion, worldview, origin, sexual orientation, disability, [in] outward appearance or [in] social status"

of the victim is justified.

Legislative initiative 2012

On March 2, 2012, the Federal Council passed the draft of a law amending the Criminal Code - inclusion of inhumane motives as special circumstances of the sentencing , which should enable a harsher punishment of offenders who acted for racist, xenophobic or other inhuman motives. To this end, Section 46 of the Criminal Code , which specifies the principles of sentencing , should be amended accordingly. According to the Federal Council, criminal law must “send a clear signal that society is not prepared to tolerate such acts of violence - often against its weakest members. ” However, there should not be a separate criminal offense, “hate crimes”. The parliamentary groups of the SPD and Bündnis '90 / Die Grünen also introduced bills into the Bundestag . The German Bundestag rejected it on October 18, 2012 with the votes of the Union parliamentary group and the FDP parliamentary group . So such a law did not come into force.

Legislative initiative 2014

On August 27, 2014, the federal cabinet of the grand coalition passed a bill against hate crime. The draft law aims to punish crimes that were committed on the basis of racism or “other inhumane motives” more severely. To this end, Section 46 of the Criminal Code , which specifies the principles of sentencing , should be amended accordingly. In the explanatory memorandum to the draft law, the Federal Government points out that the definition system politically motivated crime (PMK) adopted in 2001 can be used as a point of reference as “other inhumane motives” .

Legal Policy 2019

A project on the agenda of the responsible minister Christine Lambrecht is a tightening of the Network Enforcement Act . Lambrecht also wants to introduce mandatory reporting. The operators should report official crimes to the police. She cited death threats , sedition and cases of serious insult as examples . This primarily refers to hate crime. On the other hand, Lambrecht rejected a real name requirement on the Internet .

Frequency of hate crime in Germany

An EU study analyzed hate crime in Germany and other EU countries. For 2006 the study identified 18,142 cases of hate crime, of which 17,597 were motivated by right-wing extremist ideologies; the study observed 14% growth over a year. In comparison, there were 7,722 cases of hate crime in the United States in 2006. The frequency of hate crime and right-wing extremism is underestimated by the German population. Often the hate motive is not addressed by investigative authorities, the judiciary or the media. In 2016, for example, an anti-Semitic attempted manslaughter in Nuremberg was trivialized as an apolitical drunkenness offense in the judgment and in press work by the judiciary and police. Large parts of the reporting did not address the motif either. The perpetrator, who pushed the victim into the subway track bed and kicked his head and fingers, prevented him from getting back up to the platform, said when he was arrested: “I did that because he is a Jew. The next time I'll do it right ”and“ I hate all Jews. ”Press representatives justified this by wanting to deter copycat offenders - a point of view that is doubted from a legal point of view, because copycat offenders are deterred by punishments commensurate with the guilt and appropriate reporting.

The State Criminal Police Office of Hesse set up a working group to investigate hate crime after the Walter Lübcke murder case . According to media reports, thousands of criminal proceedings are expected. Until then, according to the media, hate crime on the Internet had very rarely been pursued.

Hate Crime in the UK Legal System

In the UK , hate crimes have been found to cause more serious psychological harm to victims than offenses with an unbiased motivation because they attack the human being's human rights and identity .

Since the concept of hate crime was introduced, hostile, prejudiced crimes against a person or group have been recorded and prosecuted separately because they belong to a minority . Many forms of " hate speech ", however, are protected by freedom of expression , but not as much as in the United States.

See also

Web links

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  1. ↑ Hodge P. Jessica: Gender-motivated hate crimes . In: Claire M. Renzetti / Susan L. Miller / Angela R. Gover (Eds.): Routledge International Handbook of Crime and Gender Studies . London / New York 2013.
  2. ↑ Questions about the police situation mapping of attacks against refugee accommodation, BT-Drs. 18/7000 , answer to question 22, letter b, page 17
  3. ↑ a b 2014 Hate Crime Statistics. Retrieved January 14, 2017 .
  4. ↑ Jack McDevitt, Jennifer Williamson: Hate Crimes: Violence Against Gays, Lesbians, Bisexual and Transsexual Victims. In: Heitmeyer, Wilhelm / Hagan, John (Hrsg.): International manual of violence research. Wiesbaden, 2002, pp. 1000-1019.
  5. ^ Province of Ontario, Ministry of Ontario: Crown Policy Manual. Hate Crime and Discrimination (PDF; 123 kB). Attorneygeneral.jus.gov.on.ca, March 21, 2005.
  6. ↑ Diane Elmore: The Psychology of Hate Crimes ( Memento of November 4, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 137 kB). Apa.org, September 29, 2009.
  7. ↑ James B. Jacobs, Kimberlly Potter: Hate crimes. Criminal law and identity politics. New York / Oxford, 1998.
  8. ^ A b Marc Coester: The concept of hate crimes from the USA with special consideration of right-wing extremism in Germany. Frankfurt am Main, Berlin, Bern, Bruxelles, New York, Oxford, Vienna, 2008.
  9. ^ Mark Holzberger: Cilip 68 (No. 1/2001) - Mark Holzberger: Registration of right-wing extremist crimes. In: cilip.de. Civil Rights & Police / CILIP 68 (1/2001), May 8, 2001, accessed on January 14, 2017 .
  10. ↑ Politically motivated crime ( PDF ) p. 268.
  11. ↑ Bundestag printed paper for the 16th electoral period, printed paper No. 13035 - BT-Drs. 16/13035 p. 1, full verbatim quote: "The topic of 'hate crime' is assigned to politically motivated crimes if the circumstances of the act or the perpetrator's attitude suggest that they are against a person on the basis of his or her political attitude, nationality, Ethnicity, race, skin color, religion, worldview, origin, sexual orientation, disability, their external appearance or their social status. Even if the act is not committed directly against a person, but against an institution or thing in the context mentioned above, it is assigned to the topic of 'hate crime'. Offenses with a xenophobic background are a subset of 'hate crime'. " [Double quotes converted into single]
  12. ↑ Federal Council takes action against hate crime. Federal Council, March 2, 2012, accessed on February 23, 2020 .
  13. ↑ German Bundestag: Recommendation for a resolution and report by the Legal Committee on the Bundesrat's draft law. Bundestag printed matter 17/11061.
  14. ^ German Bundestag: Stenographic report, 198th session of October 18, 2012. p. 23955.
  15. ↑ Consequences of the NSU affair: Federal government wants to punish hate crime more severely. In: Spiegel Online . August 27, 2014, accessed January 14, 2017 .
  16. ↑ Queer.de: Federal Cabinet passes law against hate crime
  17. ^ Die Welt , Justice Minister wants to punish insults on the Internet more severely from October 13, 2019
  18. ↑ Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , Facebook should report hatred from October 13, 2019
  19. ↑ taz , delete and track from October 16, 2019
  20. ↑ Justice Minister Lambrecht against the use of real names on the Internet
  21. ↑ EU Xenophobia Report: Racism On the Rise in Germany. In: Spiegel Online . August 28, 2007. Retrieved January 14, 2017 .
  22. ↑ Hate Crime in the US November 19, 2007, accessed January 14, 2017 .
  23. ↑ ONLINE Interview with Racism Expert: 'Awareness of Ethnic Discrimination Is Low in Germany'. In: Spiegel Online . August 29, 2007. Retrieved January 14, 2017 .
  24. ↑ DPA-RegiolineGeo: Trials: man pushed onto subway tracks: 49-year-old in court. In: Focus Online . September 26, 2016. Retrieved January 14, 2017 .
  25. ↑ Nuremberg - man pushed onto the rails: five years imprisonment for 49-year-olds. In: sueddeutsche.de . September 28, 2016. Retrieved January 14, 2017 .
  26. ↑ Judith Werner: Nuremberg: Only booze and manslaughter. In: juedische-allgemeine.de. January 14, 2017. Retrieved January 14, 2017 .
  27. ↑ Heike Borufka , Tobias Lübben : LKA determined after thousands of hateful comments on Lübcke. In: hessenschau.de. July 4, 2019, accessed July 7, 2019 .
  28. ↑ Hate speech: LKA expects thousands of proceedings because of hate comments in the Lübcke case. In: time online. July 4, 2019, accessed July 7, 2019 .
  29. ↑ Home Office : Hate crime - Hatred is the targeting of individuals, groups and communities because of who they are . Retrieved September 30, 2009.
  30. ↑ Nicholas Randall, Anthony Looch: 'Free speech' defeats incitement law. In: independent.co.uk. July 9, 2009. Retrieved January 14, 2017 .