Responding to Hate

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Responding to Hate

• The Role of Human or Civil Rights Commissions in
  Hate Crime Response

2
Jake Beckwith AmeriCorps VISTA Iowa Human and
Civil Rights Project of AmeriCorps VISTA and the
Iowa Civil Rights Commission May,
2008 jacob.beckwith_at_iowa.gov [phone]
The author and Iowa Civil Rights Commission give
expressed permission for the use or publication
of this material to all relevant local agencies.
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Roles and Community Response

• The responsibility of investigating a reported
  hate crime belongs to law enforcement.
• The responsibility of charging and prosecuting
  the offenders belongs to the prosecuting
  attorney.
• The role of facilitating a proper response can
  belong to a local Human Rights or Civil Rights
  Commission (HRC).

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Why a response is important

• Silence means acceptance
• If we do not respond to hate crime, we send a
  message to the victim and perpetrator that
  intolerance is okay.
• A report released by the U.S. Department of
  Justice and the U.S. Attorney General in 2001
  indicates that many hate crimes are escalations
  of other incidents that do not get a proper
  response (Wessler and Moss, 5).
• A U.S. Department of Justice 2005 study of hate
  crime reporting indicates that only about 40 of
  all bias motivated incidents are reported to
  authorities (Harlow, 2).

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Iowa Demographic Outlook

• The population of Iowa is very rapidly becoming
  more diverse (all stats from U.S. Census).
• The Latino-American population has increased by
  30 since 2000.
• The Asian-American community has grown by 19.
• African-American community has grown by nearly
  10.
• Estimates project that by 2010, 90 of all new
  growth in Iowa will be attributed to minority
  groups.
• From 2000-2006 minorities accounted for
  approximately 60 of growth in Iowa.

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Hate Crime Trends

• African Americans are the most frequent victims
  of hate crime in Iowa, accounting for nearly 60
  of reported hate crime victims. Homosexual men
  are the second most targeted group (Iowa DPS).
• Hate Crime against Latinos nationally is up 30
  in the last 5 years (FBI).
• Latinos account for the largest and fastest
  growing minority in Iowa.
• The number of annually reported hate crimes in
  Iowa is around 30, except for a jump in 2002 when
  48 hate incidents were reported (Iowa DPS).

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Hate in Iowa
A sample of Hate in Iowa for 2007

• Des Moines (Assault) Jassimen Dobbins and Angela
  Wade, both 19, were charged with first-degree
  burglary and third-degree arson for allegedly
  beating a gay teenager with a bottle, stabbing
  him with a fork, and stealing 5, his ATM card
  and his driver's license before setting his bag
  on fire.
• Ottumwa (Criminal Mischief) Matthew A. Lanman,
  17, was charged with fourth-degree criminal
  mischief as a hate crime for allegedly hanging a
  dead opossum and a note insulting Blacks and
  Latinos in a school bathroom.
• Marshalltown (Vandalism, Theft) Racial slurs and
  graffiti were spray painted and the familys
  Christmas presents stolen at the home of a
  minority family supporting Barack Obama.
• Cedar Rapids (Vandalism) Racial Slurs, swastikas,
  and threats including a hangmans platform and
  the words Leave Now were painted on the home of
  a couple living on SW Mallory Street on Christmas
  Eve.

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Elements of an Effective Response

• Reporting
• Reported to local law enforcement, or authority
  for investigation.
• Receiving and/or publicizing reports from law
  enforcement of bias related incidents.
• Victim Support
• Reassurance, safety, and listening
• Developing a list of procedures or dos and
  donts
• Connecting to resources
• Iowa Attorney Generals Victim Assistance Program
• Assessing needs (Medical, Emotional, et cetera)
• Public Denunciation
• Action that condemns the hate crime, takes a
  position against intolerance, supports the
  targeted community
• Should be proportionate to the crime

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What a Human or Civil Rights Commission can do

• Open up a dialogue with community partners such
  as law enforcement, city officials, organizations
  and schools about networking against bias.
• Sharing incident reports
• Law enforcement can notify HRC or City, set up
  communication chain with other community
  stakeholders
• Work with schools on combating bias and hate.
• Many universities have bias response teams (UNI)
• Work with community schools to enforce the Safe
  Schools Law
• Discuss obtaining training on hate crimes such as
  is offered by the US DOJ Community Relations
  Service or ADL(see resources)
• Possibly for Law Enforcement, the community,
  schools et cetera
• Discuss establishing a response plan and policy
• Similar to fire plan

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Best Practices
Cities

• Advocate to the city council to create a
  statement and proclamation to support social and
  racial tolerance and end bigotry.
• Oak Park, Illinois
• Create a pledge to diversity or racial justice
  and encourage people or businesses to sign on.
• Beloit, Wisconsin
• Establishing and publishing a hate crime response
  plan.
• Fargo, ND Edina, MN Shoreview, MN Dubuque, IA
• Start a bias crime network or task force
• Flint, Michigan

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Best Practice
Hate Crime Network or Task Force

• Some cities have established a network against
  bias.
• Incorporates all the elements of hate crime
  response.
• Consists of representatives of community
  stakeholders such as schools, city government,
  civic organizations.
• Set goals to facilitate hate crime reporting.
• Sharing incident reports with other
  organizations.
• In the incident of a hate crime, they will have
  someone available to contact and support the
  victim.
• Would determine and plan an appropriate public
  response.

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Public Response

• Develop a Toolkit of options (Public Forum,
  Vigil, Statement in the Media)
• Iowa Civil Rights Commission Toolkit
  www.state.ia.us/government/crc/

Promotion and Prevention

• Schools
• Safe schools law
• Programs that encourage tolerance
• Community Projects
• Programs encourage tolerance/ cultural
  understanding
• Distributing Information and Educating
• Brochures, posters, news articles, workshops

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Resources

• Anti-Defamation League
• Blueprint for combating bias and hate crime
• Regional Office Omaha, Nebraska - [phone]
  
• Southern Poverty Law Center
• Intelligence Report
• Tolerance.org
• Stopthehate.org
• Campus Hate Crime Resource
• U.S. Dept. of Justice Community Relations
  Service
• Regional Office Kansas City, MO [phone]
  
• Statistics
• FBI Uniform Crime Report (Available at FBI
  website)
• Iowa Department of Public Safety Uniform Crime
  Report

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Sources

• Wessler, Stephen and Moss, Margaret. Hate Crime
  on Campus The problem and efforts to confront
  it. Bureau of Justice Assistance. October 2001.
• FBI Uniform Crime Report, 2006.
• Harlow, Caroline Wolf. Hate Crime Reported by
  Victims and Police. Bureau of Justice Statistics.
  November 2005.
• Iowa Department of Public Safety Uniform Crime
  Report, 2005.
• Lockyer, Bill. Reporting Hate Crimes. California
  Attorney Generals Office. 2003.
• Hate Crime Report. LA County Commission on Human
  Relations. 2005.
• Hate Crime Network and Community Response.
  Michigan Alliance Against Hate Crime. November,
  2007. www.miahcc.com
• U.S. Census Bureau, 2006. www.census.gov