Hate crimes against gays hurt body and soul.A recent study of gay men and lesbians shows that hate crimes have a more serious psychological impact on the victim than other crimes. Gregory Herek, a research psychologist at the University of California The University of California has a combined student body of more than 191,000 students, over 1,340,000 living alumni, and a combined systemwide and campus endowment of just over $7.3 billion (8th largest in the United States). at Davis, presented his findings at a congressional briefing in November. The briefing in Washington, D.C., coincided with the country's first White House Conference on Hate Crimes, where President Clinton announced an initiative to expand federal hate-crime laws to include more potential victims, stiffer penalties, and more accurate reporting. Congress, which created the Hate Crimes Statistics Act of 1990, categorizes bias motivated crimes according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. victims' sexual orientation sexual orientation n. The direction of one's sexual interest toward members of the same, opposite, or both sexes, especially a direction seen to be dictated by physiologic rather than sociologic forces. ; disability; and racial, ethnic, and religious background. Herek narrowed his study to gay men and lesbians, saying it is "reasonable to expect" that members of other minority groups may be affected similarly. Herek's study found that levels of psychological distress psychological distress The end result of factors–eg, psychogenic pain, internal conflicts, and external stress that prevent a person from self-actualization and connecting with 'significant others'. See Humanistic psychology. were higher and lasted longer for gay and lesbian hate-crime victims compared with those victimized by other types of crime. For example, depression, stress, and anger may last as long as five years after a hate-crime incident, he said. But among gay and lesbian survivors of nonbias crimes, these psychological symptoms "dropped substantially" within three to five years of the crime. The study also found: * One-fifth of women and more than one-fourth of men said they had experienced a crime or attempted crime based on their sexual orientation. * One woman in eight and one man in six reported being victimized (assaulted, raped, robbed, or vandalized) because of their orientation in the past five years. * Hate crimes were less likely than other crimes to be reported to be spoken of; to be mentioned, whether favorably or unfavorably. See also: Report to the police. Only 33 percent of hate-crime victims reported the incident to police, compared with 57 percent of the victims of random crimes, Herek said. * In the year before being surveyed, more than 50 percent of respondents said they were the target of antigay verbal abuse verbal abuse Psychology A form of emotional abuse consisting of the use of abusive and demeaning language with a spouse, child, or elder, often by a caregiver or other person in a position of power. See Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Spousal abuse. . Nearly 20 percent had been chased, threatened with antigay violence, or both. Sixteen percent reported having been targets of antigay employment discrimination in the previous year. Herek, noting that some critics believe hate-crime laws are unnecessary, urged Congress not to shrink from Verb 1. shrink from - avoid (one's assigned duties); "The derelict soldier shirked his duties" fiddle, shirk, goldbrick avoid - refrain from doing something; "She refrains from calling her therapist too often"; "He should avoid publishing his wife's its responsibility to create and support laws aimed at protecting targets of bias-motivated crime. "Hate crimes have a special impact on the victim and the victim's community," he said. Herek's words were echoed by Karen Narasaki Karen K. Narasaki (b. 1958 Seattle, Washington) is the President and Executive Director of the Asian American Justice Center, formerly known as the National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium (NAPALC). AAJC is a national Washington, D.C. from the National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium. "One reason hate crimes are so important is that the victim intended is really an entire community," she said. Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), an African American African American Multiculture A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa. See Race. congressman who recounted his experiences with bigotry during the 1960s civil rights battles, said of hate crime, "This is real. It is not something that you just read about. We've got to give the federal authorities more power to not just investigate but prosecute hate crimes." The Justice Department officials said hate crimes increased to 8,759 in 1996 from 7,947 in 1995. Race was a factor in 63 percent of the cases; religion, 13.9 percent; sexual orientation, 12 percent; and ethnic origin, 11 percent Statistics for people with disabilities were gathered in 1996, but results were not yet available. Herek's study, "The Impact of Hate Crime Victimization victimization Social medicine The abuse of the disenfranchised–eg, those underage, elderly, ♀, mentally retarded, illegal aliens, or other, by coercing them into illegal activities–eg, drug trade, pornography, prostitution. ," is available on the Internet at http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/ rainbow. |
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