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Date: April 29, 2024 Mon
Time: 10:19 pm
Time: 10:19 pm
Results for bias homicides
1 results foundAuthor: Beckman, Wyatt Title: Bias Crime Charges in the United States: Bias homicides in the U.S. between 1990 and 2016 Summary: The Indiana General Assembly introduced 10 bills related to bias (or hate) crimes in the 2019 session. Indiana is 1 of 5 states in the U.S. without a bias crimes statute. The 10 bills are similar in that each of them allows for a criminal penalty enhancement for bias crimes offenses. Penalty enhancement statutes enable courts to impose a longer sentence if the predicate crime-the underlying crime committed by an offender-is proven to have been motivated by bias as defined by the particular statute. Marginalized communities are convicted of predicate crimes at higher rates. Given that racial disparities also exist within sentencing decisions for equal crimes, there is evidence of discretion within the legal process that disproportionately (and negatively) impacts marginalized groups. The following brief presents an objective analysis of bias homicide charges in the U.S. with the goal of understanding possible policy implications of Indiana's proposed bias crimes legislation. Data from the Bias Homicide Database (BHDB) was used to analyze bias homicides that occurred in the U.S. between 1990 and 2016. For a homicide to be included in the BHDB, it must meet the following observable inclusion criteria: the felonious death of one or more persons, an identifiable offender, and indicators that the victim was selected because of their race, ethnicity, nationality, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, or gender identity. An analysis of 317 bias homicides, 567 offenders, and 411 victims was performed to determine the extent to which bias charges are sought on behalf of protected groups. KEY FINDINGS The occurrence of bias-motivated homicides in the U.S. from 1990 to 2016 reveals: - Even in states where victim groups had equal statutory protection, prosecutors did not seek bias charges equitably among victim groups. - A majority of bias homicides did not involve official bias crime charges. - Anti-sexual orientation/gender identity and anti-race/ethnicity account for the majority of bias homicides. - Anti-sexual orientation/ gender identity homicides are disproportionately less likely than anti-race, anti-religion, and anti-nationality/immigrant homicides to be officially prosecuted as bias crimes. - Bias crime charges are more likely to be sought in states with an existing bias crimes statute that specified the affected victim group. - However, bias charges are often not filed for bias homicides in states with an existing bias crimes statute. Details: Indianapolis: Indiana University, Public policy Institute, Center for Research on Inclusion & Social Policy, 2019. 4p. Source: Internet Resource: accessed May 20, 2019 at: https://policyinstitute.iu.edu/doc/bias-crimes-brief.pdf Year: 2019 Country: United States URL: https://policyinstitute.iu.edu/doc/bias-crimes-brief.pdf Shelf Number: 155740 Keywords: Bias Crimes Bias HomicidesHate Crimes Homicides |