Gay Hate Crimes

Essay # 65014

Criminology
Gender and Sexuality > Homosexuality
Gender and Sexuality > Sexual Politics

Gay Hate Crimes

A study of the motivation of hate crimes directed towards the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.

1,853 words () | 8 sources | MLA | 2005 United Kingdom

Paper Summary:

This paper looks specifically at comparisons between the psychological effects of bias crimes and non-bias crimes, the role of the media, prevention and the role of the justice system using two specific case studies. It examines two high-profile murder cases-those of Matthew Shepard in 1998 and Danny Overstreet in 2000.

From the Paper:

"In a study comparing the psychological distress suffered by victims of hate crimes and of unbiased crimes, evidence was found to the effect that the former were more likely to suffer greater psychological distress than the latter (Herek, Gillis and Cogan, 1999). Approximately two-thousand subjects from Sacramento, California, participated in the research and the sample included equal numbers of men and women. After a period of five years, victims of hate crimes reported greater levels of anxiety, anger towards the attacker, depression, and traumatic stress. They were also more likely to "regard the world as unsafe" (p. 949)."