Hate Crimes Decrease In The Bronx Through Education
Hate crimes rose by 52 percent against blacks and 35 percent against Jews in New York City last year, according to statistics provided by police at a Bronx forum Tuesday.
In the lone bit of positive news, anti-gay crimes dropped, though only by 2 percent.
Experts attributed the increase in part to the economic downturn and to racial unrest following last summer’s Jena Six incident, as well as recent events such as the Howard Beach assaults and the Sean Bell shooting.
However, police and prosecutors emphasized their efforts to combat bias attacks. “We want to make sure we send a message that if you commit a hate crime in the city of New York, you will be prosecuted,” said Sgt. Ronald Lynch of the NYPD hate crimes task force.
He spoke at a forum sponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, which brought together community activists, social workers and educators to discuss ways of combating hate crimes in everyday life. A hate crime is defined as a crime committed explicitly because the victim is of a particular race, ethnicity, gender or sexual identity.
“It is always your actions, coupled with your thoughts or your words,” said Michael Cooper, a Bronx assistant district attorney who heads an anti-hate crime unit. These crimes have become “more prevalent,” he said.
Indeed, the city saw 144 anti-Semitic crimes in 2007, up from 107 in 2006. Racially motivated attacks against blacks rose from 23 in 2006 to 35 in 2007. Hate crimes against whites increased from six incidents in 2006 to eight last year, while attacks motivated by sexual or gender identity dropped from 51 to 50.
Noah Feldman, representing Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion, said that his borough is the only of the five to report a decrease in hate crimes; he said there has been a 43-percent drop since 2003. The reasons, he said, included after school programs that preach tolerance and interaction between groups. Carrion, trying to model that behavior, is currently in Israel learning about Jewish culture.
Bronx District Attorney Robert Johnson, who created the first bias crime unit in New York State, stressed education and prevention. The attitudes that underlie hate crimes, he said, begin in the home. Only education and interaction between communities can bring progress.
“Our time, our dollars are better spent dealing in the area of prevention rather than prosecution,” he said.
SOURCE: AMNY.com
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