by Daniel Burke

June 12, 2017

 

(CNN)What motivated the man who killed two people on a Portland train after shouting anti-Muslim slurs?

What prompted the person, or people, who spray-painted the N-word on an NBA star’s home?
What ideas would incite an Israeli teen charged with threatening dozens of Jewish centers in the US, throwing communities into chaos and terrifying the parents of young children?
We call them all “hate crimes,” as if the same motivation lurks behind each of these disparate incidents. But that term is outdated and inaccurate, experts say.
What spurs offenders into action is rarely animosity alone. It’s a toxic mix of emotions, from anger to fear to indignation. And, as the FBI says, “hate itself is not a crime.” Instead, bias is considered an “added element” to offenses like murder, arson and vandalism, leading at times to longer prison sentences.
The public and prosecutors often disagree on what constitutes a hate crime. Besieged minorities like Muslims and transgender people often see an assault on one of them as an attack on their entire community, especially in this era of intense rancor and fear. Between the November election and February, for instance, the Southern Poverty Law Center counted more than 1,300 “hate incidents” across the country.
Full article:
http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/02/us/who-commits-hate-crimes/index.html