Violent crimes against LGBT individuals up 13%, report says

[Amazon D]

Violent crimes against LGBT individuals up 13%, report says

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/07/violent-crimes-against-gays-up-13-report-says.html


July 12, 2011 | 11:07 am    652
An 18-year-old gay man from Texas allegedly slain by a high-school classmate who believed his friend was making advances toward him; a 31-year-old transgender woman from Pennsylvania found dead with a pillowcase around her head; and a 24-year-old lesbian from Florida purportedly killed by her girlfriend's father, who disapproved of the relationship.

The homicides are a sampling of 2010 hate crimes against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people compiled by a national coalition of anti-hate organizations.

The report, released Tuesday, showed a 13% increase over 2009 in violent crimes committed against people because of their perceived or actual sexual orientation, gender identity or status as HIV positive, according to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Projects....

[Lisbeth]

I see this as a result of the right wing giving people permission to perpetrate violence on GLBT individuals. This is much like when the NAZIs gave the German people permission to perpetrate violence on Jews.

[Amazon D]

I see this as a result of the right wing giving people permission to perpetrate violence on GLBT individuals. This is much like when the NAZIs gave the German people permission to perpetrate violence on Jews.

DITTO thats why we need safe housing / safe farms a place for our people to not only get ahead but live without fear.. i found the mennonite region of Pa a very safe area as they and the amish are not prejudice..

[Ann Onymous]

The report still fails to address whether the number of acts is actually up or whether the 13% represents an increased reporting of the acts...

I'm still also opposed to increases in sanction on a 'hate crimes' basis primarily because they can be more difficult to properly prove up in court and so you wind up going through the machinations to get back to the underlying offense as a lesser count on the jury charge...when the case could have been pled much earlier and saved a number of judicial resources.  'Hate crime' laws are also a slippery slope towards the erosion of liberties related to ANY thought or speech...

[Amazon D]

The report still fails to address whether the number of acts is actually up or whether the 13% represents an increased reporting of the acts...

I'm still also opposed to increases in sanction on a 'hate crimes' basis primarily because they can be more difficult to properly prove up in court and so you wind up going through the machinations to get back to the underlying offense as a lesser count on the jury charge...when the case could have been pled much earlier and saved a number of judicial resources.  'Hate crime' laws are also a slippery slope towards the erosion of liberties related to ANY thought or speech...

Hate crimes are a way to bring the public up to date with the changes in society like the anti discrimination laws for black people that were and are still needed across the usa to help educate the masses.

[Muffins]

In theory they're nice but it's just a beckon that bigots can now look out for to step around to avoid being taken to the cleaners. "Oh it wasn't discrimination no no lols it was nothing more than a lack of work/any other BS excuse they carefully made sure it could appear as". "oh it wasn't a hate crime it was *pulls out pre-fabricated loop-hole drawn together ahead of time* ...this!".

It would be nice for these laws to start to actually work and be an actual deterrent, if that's even possible I mean the thought of actually "educating" a bigoted dolt seems way too far fetched of an idea. More so when they're being brainwashed by state invested religious groups to believe anyone that goes even anywhere near the idea of not reproducing to feed population growth/the system to be evil satan worshippers that must have their souls cleansed by death or something equally moronic...  aahhhhh yeah #$%^ #$% #$^%$ #%!@ *shrugs*. Stupid people.... they're breeding.

*misanthropic levels creep up another notch*.

[Amazon D]

It does my heart good to see the youth letting out their feelings here. Hopefully they will be prepared and stay out of situations which prejudice jerks could hurt them. Go Muffin

[tekla]

The report still fails to address whether the number of acts is actually up or whether the 13% represents an increased reporting of the acts...

When looking at statistics this is the first question, and it's not really answered.  And there is a lot of other missing information that one needs to really understand that number. 



It would be nice for these laws to start to actually work and be an actual deterrent

For the most part laws do not deter, they only punish.

[Muffins]

We need harsher punishments then, I'm thinking early last century asian punishments. Disembowelment, arms in acid baths, removal of body parts.. go hog wild! I wonder if that would work?

[tekla]

Did it before?  (Answer is: if they needed them, then obviously not.)

[Ann Onymous]

Hate crimes are a way to bring the public up to date with the changes in society like the anti discrimination laws for black people that were and are still needed across the usa to help educate the masses.

Statutes do nothing meaningful towards educating the public.  Hell, they hardly educate the attorneys who have to work with them day in and day out...I see that on a regular basis with drug-free zones and other specifically-crafted provisions of Texas law.  And then I have to work to undo the damage done by some idiot who was appointed on the case and had no clue what they were doing.  In other cases, I look through a file and see that the prosecutor screwed a case up and wound up with no conviction because they went only for a top-count hate crime instead of taking the REAL offense which was assaultive in nature. 

Time and again, we see appellate opinions that basically hold that problems exist with attempting to discern thought and then punishing that very thought...

It would be FAR better to just go back to a system where if you assault, batter, rape, or otherwise harm someone, then you get charged with the appropriate level of offense specific to the underlying ACT itself (ie. the assault, battery, rape or other harm). 

Trying to make an offense fit into a check-box of the rationale is just something to make people feel better about having been a victim of crime...

[Muffins]

Did it before?  (Answer is: if they needed them, then obviously not.)

what would you suggest?

[tekla]

Mercy, compassion, understanding and tolerance.  Those places that are full of those qualities are very safe places to be.

[SandraJane]

Question for Ann O;

What are the stats for acts against LGBT individuals in Texas? Dallas-Fort Worth? Houston? San Antonio? Austin?

[Ann Onymous]

Question for Ann O;

What are the stats for acts against LGBT individuals in Texas? Dallas-Fort Worth? Houston? San Antonio? Austin?

can we be anymore overly broad in that question?  My god, you do not even offer up a period of time in which you are looking for numbers.  Further, you do not quantify whether you want claimed conduct as asserted by some activist group or conduct that could be corroborated by evidence resulting in the potential for prosecution. 

And to further illustrate the futility of looking at such numbers...take the instance of A/FV that one of our clients had some years ago.  It involved contact with her partner.  The report shows the relationship as having been consistent with the same-sex relationship.  But it was NOT conduct that occurred because either one of them was lesbian...it was conduct that occurred in the context of a domestic disturbance.  Yet that incident would be used as an example of 'violence against gay and lesbian persons.' 

Personally, I find it more useful to focus on UCR Part 1 and Part 2 reporting.  That way, you see what is the more accurate trending in a given community...

[Muffins]

Mercy, compassion, understanding and tolerance.  Those places that are full of those qualities are very safe places to be.

what about the places that are not? you know to be a little more realistic.

[SandraJane]

Thank you Ann, you did pointed out the sources where these "statistics" come from, didn't know that( like Littlewood )Along the way found a couple of other interesting sites... UCR (Uniform Crime Reports), NIBRS (National Incident Based Reporting System), and the NACJD (National Archive of Criminal Justice Data). http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/NACJD/

And Muffin has a better point...where are  the not so violent places?










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