Hate Crimes in South Carolina Researvh Assignment Paper (Essay Sample)

Hate Crimes in South Carolina
Name:
Institution:
Introduction
Hate crime is an offense that aims at causing harm to an individual, family or property with bias based on gender, sex, religion, ethnicity, disability or sexual orientation. Hate crime law is the federal prosecution of hate crimes investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on individual who demonstrate the act of hate crime. This essay will discuss hate crime in the state of South Carolina, the covered groups, singled out groups and penalties enhancement for some groups on the basis of gender and sexual orientation.
United States federal state hate crime law was amended in 1969. Hate crimes law was passed by the congress and got signed by president Obama in 2009. Out of all the states in the U.S, only five states do not hate crimes law including South Carolina. Since Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act in 2009, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has been given the mandate to investigate hate crime in this state. In addition, it has been given the power to prosecute individuals using the right channel, training local law enforcement officers on bias based crimes and training local communities through religious and nongovernmental organizations on the nature and form of hate crimes in South Carolina. Despite all the powers handed to the FBI, hate crimes law act has not been legislated in South Carolina thus devouring the power that the FBI has and a chance to prosecute individuals who perpetuate hate crimes.
In June 2015, nine black people were shot dead by a white man, Dylan Roof outside a church in Charlestown, South Carolina. The assassin was sentenced to death and the crime he performed was deemed as hate crime based on race and color. Between 2003 and 2015, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) recorded a total of 4121 hate crime incidences in all the U.S states as noted by Sutton (2017). Out of all these, 47 were from the state of Carolina. In addition, SPLC ranked South Carolina as the 31st highest with incidences of hate crimes out of all the 50 states.
Hate crimes law on the basis of color and has been enacted by the state of South Carolina since the rise in such hate crime cases. Bill Nettles, a former US attorney claimed that Dylan Roof was sentenced to death on the basis of hate crime related to race and color. Due to the fact that South Carolina has not yet legislated hate crime laws, individual who suffer such crimes are protected by the law following investigations made by the FBI.
Hate crime laws are essential as the help curb the vices that arise as a result of harm intended toward someone or a group of people. In addition, hate crime laws should be made equal to all. If certain groups or gender are given special consid...