The Roots of Hate: Hate Crimes and Crimes in Europe and the USA

Hate crimes: what they are and how they are born “Only an educated mind can understand a thought different from its own without the need to accept it”, a phrase uttered by the Greek philosopher Aristotle, more than 2,000 years ago, but always current, who recognizes the importance of dialogue and respect for the points of view of others. More than two millennia have passed since the famous philosopher’s warning, yet not much seems to have changed. Clearly the understanding and acceptance of diversity are issues as old as human existence. And unfortunately, in recent years we have seen a steady increase in hate crime. What exactly are hate crimes? All those acts, in any form of violence, committed against persons and / or property associated with them, on the basis of their belonging (true or presumed) to a specific social group, identified on the basis of ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, particular physical or mental conditions. One of the problems associated with hate crime is that they are often difficult to identify and therefore to prevent. In fact, this type of crime manifests itself as behavior carried out on impulse and without rationality, often the result of mental mechanisms of distortion of reality caused by prejudices, ideologies and erroneous perceptions. Also, they are defined as “target crimes” or crimes with a specific target through which the perpetrator of the crime sends a message of non-acceptance of a person or a community. Adnkronos and Expleo tried to trace the situation on hate crimes starting from the data provided by OSCE – Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe – for the situation in Europe and by the FBI – Federal Bureau of Investigation Uniform Crime Reporting – for the situation in the United States, as well as those of various associations that work for the defense of human rights in Italy. The countries included in the analysis are: United Kingdom, Finland, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, France, Germany, Austria, Ireland, Cyprus, Spain, Italy, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Croatia, Lithuania, Slovenia, United States. Countries not included do not report data on hate crimes and therefore were not the subject of the analysis.