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Case Study: Hate Crime

Case 1: Frank: Vandalism/hate Crime

Clearly, Frank is highly incensed and upset by the incident. This is fairly common for a person who had built a lot of emotions and religious reverence around a particular building that has served his community for a long time. And with the police being bureaucratic and choosing insensitive words at such a sensitive time for Frank and his colleagues, it is apparent that their pain, shock and emotional distress are intensified. However, there are some key ingredients that must be met before a crime of this magnitude as a “hate crime”.

Likelihood of Reporting

This is a case that must be reported. And it has already been reported to the police. However, the police are faced with the challenge of categorizing the crime as a “hate crime”, “arson” or “vandalism”. To do that accurately, the police need to understand the kind of person who committed the crime and their motives. This makes it difficult to categorize and deal with the crime.

Short-Term Impact

Immediately, there will be anger and shock and fear and panic. This is because people like Frank clearly believe they are being targeted and as such, there will be an increase in precaution amongst members of Frank’s religious organization. Then, there will be a lot of questioning and investigations as well as journalistic information that will be spread. As such, the leading police officer will have to come out and explain the facts, seek calm and unit and avoid further escalations.

Long-Term Impact

The religious group Frank belongs to, will have to be categorized as a potentially threatened group. As such, the police will be required to open a file on them, increase surveillance on them and also ensure they are not targeted in the distant-future. Internally, the place of worship will have to improve their security and obviously, insurance payments will go up.

Victim Blaming

It is apparent the police and insurance company are already blaming them. There might be a religious body that might have had histories in arson attacks or some theological differences with Frank’s religious group – they are likely to resort to victim blaming because suspicion will naturally fall on them.

Challenges of Victim Advocate

They will be questioned about negligence – why will a public place not have cameras to protect them? Why were they so careless not to prevent people from entering the place of worship? What had they seen in the past and why did they do nothing to raise alarm?

Services Needed to Assist the Victims

Improved security from the police is essential. There is also the need for assurance that this will be taken seriously and members of Frank’s religious group will be given more care and protection. Also, there should be a hotline for the collection of information about suspicious persons and eyewitness accounts around the time the incident occurred.

Case 2: Rose – Elder Abuse

Rose’s mother’s case implicates the “male resident” who was a known “sexual predator”. He had a past record and had sexually assaulted another woman with the same condition. Thus, with Rose’s mother’s case at hand, they can file a lawsuit to take legal action.

Likelihood of Reporting the Case

It is very unlikely that Rose or anyone close to her will file a case against the “male resident”. This is mainly because the man is old and there will be no pragmatic basis to get the police to arrest him, cuff him and send him to prison. He is old and in some cases, courts just declare such persons to be too old to commit more crimes, so they fail to try them. So the likelihood of reporting this case is very low.

Short-Term Impact of the Crime

Evidence shows that Rose’s mother’s condition got bad and from her picture, it is apparent her condition got worse. She wanted to leave the facility and her Alzheimer has increased further. Therefore, it is clear that the crime has had a major impact on the old woman’s life, reversing the court’s ruling to grant her care.

Long-Term Impacts of the Crime

It seems Rose’s mother’s life expectancy has been reduced significantly due to the abuse she suffered. Rose is also suffering from guilt for failing to do more to help her mother. And there is a possibility this male resident will continue being a predator to other older women with Alzheimer’s.

Victim Blaming

Roses’ Mother might be held accountable and blamed for not speaking up. She was sexually abused twice and she had the duty of reporting it. Even if she could not remember, she could have given some indications. A defense the facility’s management is likely to put up will involve seeking proof that anything happened. This is bound to be difficult and witnesses might not want to come forward. So all the blame will fall on Rose’s mother.

Issues of Victim Advocate

The fundamental challenge will be proving that there was sexual abuse and maltreatment. They might not be able to prove with reliable evidence that the woman went through abuse and this will be countered with evidence that show that all protocols were in place. If there were no cameras and other pointers, it is clear the case may never get a day in court.

Services Needed to Assist Victim

Rose’s mother will need to be rehabilitated. This might include various treatments that will get her to recall and recount experiences in her life and also try to get her life together and improve the quality of life. This might demand special care and attention as well as treatment which could be born by the state because they contributed to the problem that culminated in the injuries she went through in the first place.

Case 3: Elaine – Elder Abuse Financial

Likelihood of Report

This case is complicated in many ways. First, reporting it as a crime will come with a lot of difficulties to prove. This is because there is no evidence to prove that Charles was actually mishandling Elaine. Whatever the nephew and niece or the neighbors have is just suspicion which is not good enough to open a criminal case. Secondly, the family had the choice of seeking closer care and gaining the power of attorney to become caregivers, however they failed. Thus, showing up to file a criminal case after her death is not really justifiable. Thirdly, this case overlaps between inheritance/private law and criminal law. Thus, presenting it as a criminal case will come after the family has lost the right to gain the inheritance. Therefore, taking any meaningful action in court is going to be very difficult unless some vital evidence can be presented.

Short-Term Impact of the Crime

In the short-run, the family will have to prove elements of the crime in the litigation. This will be based on the balance of probabilities and Charles has the upper hand because he was in charge of everything. He can twist the evidence and show that the will was changed legally with a codicil of the will. And if Charles got his act well and sought proper legal advice, he can easily present evidence in his favor that would prevent the family from gaining anything or the neighbors from proving anything.

Long-Term Impact of the Crime

The failures and/or successes of Charles in defending himself will determine whether the police can get involved in the case. This is because when Charles fails to prove he got the will executed in good faith, then, there will be room for evidence to be provided to show he murdered Elaine. Then again, autopsy reports and other actions in the home can be examined in order to identify whether there was actually a foul-play or not. This will only be done after appropriate evidence is gathered to the effect that Charles was actually malicious.

Victim-Blaming

The neighbors are likely to blame Elaine for bringing on Charles into her life to destroy her life. Also, her nephew and niece are likely to take the path of victim blaming if they are not successful in claiming inheritance from Elaine, this is because it might appear Elaine chose to trust a complete stranger without trusting them to take care of her as relatives.

Victim Advocate’s Issues

The main issue is with gathering evidence to show that Charles was actually malicious and accelerated the death of Elaine. This can only be done through the presentation of circumstantial evidence which is not very strong evidence. For each piece of evidence, Charles would have the opportunity to rationalize or downplay it as the standard of proof is beyond reasonable doubt in a criminal proceeding. Therefore, it would take a lot of proof like autopsy reports, missing doctors’ appointments, proving that Elaine truly didn’t want to talk to others and she was actually not willing to take the sleeping pills offered her by Charles. This will be very difficult to prove.

Services Necessary to Assist Victim

In Elaine’s lifetime, social services should have been provided to gather information from Elaine about how she was being treated. However, the family or neighbors failed to do so and investigate this properly. After her death, it is only things like autopsy reports, bank statements of Charles, medical appointments of Elaine and pieces of evidence that show that Elaine was truly maltreated by Charles and Charles changed her will by his own volition without Elaine’s true backing.

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