Hate Crime? Or It Just Violence?

'Small town killing puts focus on crimes against Latinos'
Chrystal Dillman's husband to be-- Luis Ramirez-- was beaten to death by a couple of teenage boys in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania. A fight broke out between the Latino Ramirez and the white high-schoolers. Luis died days later from the injuries. The teens had yelled several ethnic slurs while attacking him. Dillman believes her fiance was a victim of a racial hate crime. Research conducted has shown that there are three types of hate crimes that occur: thrill-seekers, retaliators, and defenders. Anti-Latino crimes have increased by 40% since 2003. Police have a hard time deciding if the crime was just blatant violence, or if it was based on race. The people responsible for Ramirez's death were sentenced to 2 years in prison. They were not charged with ethnic intimidation.

It is near impossible to differentiate, in my opinion, between plain violence and hate crimes when the acts are committed between different races. One could easily point fingers to racial prejudiced crimes just because the victim was white and the antagonist black-- or vis versa. I think instead of trying to nail down whether or not the murder of Luis Ramirez was a hate crime, more action should be focused on stopping crime in general. While we are trying to fix the problems that arise today, we should also go to the younger children to prevent these crimes. To instill a good sense of equality early on is vital for people in later life. They will be less likely to commit acts of violence, especially based on mere race. I am extremely against the idea that people can act out against others just because our skins are different color.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/10/22/lia.shenandoah.killing/index.html?eref=rss_topstories