Hate Crime Offenders

Criminological understanding of hate crimes takes several approaches. Some criminologists rely upon the socialization model, which focuses on bigotry and the role of hate crimes as an expression of group conflict (Messner et. al., 2004, p. 591). This approach contends that people who commit hate crimes more often come from a dominant group that attempts to terrorize members of a subordinate group or groups to maintain its dominant position (Messner et. al., 2004, p. 591). This socialization perspective views hate crime offenders as different from other criminals in their likelihood to be ômore calculating and future orientedö than other criminals, whom most criminologists agree are more likely to be impulsive and lacking in self-control (Messner et. al., 2004, p. 592).

The socialization perspective also contends th

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e victimized group by participate because of peer influence (Messner et. al., 2004, p. 593). Essentially, the versatile offender approach contends that hate crime offenders choose their victims because these victims û homosexuals, immigrants, blacks - are seen as ôweakerö and, therefore, more vulnerable. In this way, the approach contends that hate crime offenders are more similar to than different from other criminals (Messner et. al., 2004, p. 593). Under this model, criminologists further classify hate crime offenders into ôthrill-seekers.ö Thrill-seekers, who make up the largest group of hate crime offenders, are often young people who commit hate crimes because of boredom, to have fun, and to feel strong (Steinberg et. al., 2003, p. 981). The case of racist skinhead John Butler demonstrates that a person convicted of a hate crime can share characteristics from more than one criminological model. In 2003, John Butler was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death for the July 1998 murders of Lin Newborn and Daniel Shersty (Gaynor, 2003, p. 1). A jury found that Butler had lured Shersty and Newborn into the Las Vegas desert and then shot and killed them. At the time of their deaths, Shersty was a 21-year-old Nellis
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Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)