Hate Crimes

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Hate Crime

A hate crime is commonly known as the crime which is based on a bias or when the
perpetrator is motivated due to biases to commit a crime. In a hate crime, the
committer targets a victim because of his association with any specific social group
race (FBI, 2019). The groups that are commonly attacked are based on ethnicity, sex,
race, language, disability, nationality, religion, or any gender identity. Hate crimes that
usually occur or that are usually motivated under biases include sexual assault,
physical assault, damage caused to property, bullying, harassment, murders, verbal
abuse and hate speeches, and letters. Hate crimes are one of the most extreme and
violent manifestations of prejudice; hate crimes have a grave impact on the society,
community members as well as victims because they are meant to target the identity
of a group or an individual (Stotzer, 2007).

A hate crime is described by the FBI as “a traditional offense like murder, arson, or
vandalism with an added element of bias” For the purposes of collecting statistics, the
FBI defines a hate crime as a “criminal offense against a person or property motivated
in whole or in part by an offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual
orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity” (federal bureau of investigations,
2019).

Hate Crime Law

Hate crime laws are made to discourage and prevent the activities that are encouraged
due to biases against any specific group or identity. The hate crime laws normally differ
from the laws for the hate speeches, hate crimes have more severe punishments and
penalties for the offense and crime conducted due to biases and prejudice. Hate crime
laws usually exist both in the Supreme Court as well as in the lower courts, for example
in case of US. The government has laws and severe penalties for hate crimes (Meyer,
2014).

A Hate Crime case of Samuel Woodward

Blaze Bernstein was a young, Jewish, gay man. In January, Bernstein was murdered
while home visiting his family on college break. Bernstein was brutally murdered by
former schoolmate college, Samuel Woodward.

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Blaze Bernstein was a young and very charming young 19-year-old guy. The blaze
was considered highly intelligent and talented by the community members and he was
loved at college. The blaze was selected as an editor for a food magazine by his
college; he was an adventurer, explorer, and a great thoughtful writer. Blaze was a
gay man and he was usually loved by the people around him. In January 2018, a rare
incident happened that his fellow and college mate named Samuel Woodward in a
park stabbed him. Although the accused denied of any crime and said that, he got
offended when Blaze tried to kiss him on the lips but he never took any aggressive
action against him and left him alone and walked to the park (Capon, 2018).

Samuel Woodward the 21-year-old man who was the schoolmate of Blaze from
Orange country school. He was charged for the murder of Blaze. Although he denied
all the charges and the attorney of the Woodward claimed that the accuser himself is
suffering from a mental disorder called “Asperger Syndrome” and claimed that all the
allegations against him for killing Blaze because he is a gay are false and baseless.
The crime scene reports that Woodward stabbed Blaze on his neck and face 20 time
and then buried him in mud in the park. The watch worn by the Woodward has the
blood marks. The knife in the bedroom of Woodward also had blood marks. The
personality if Woodward is also doubtful because he was confused about his own
gender identity although he had some of the reflections of a gay because of the guatty
and the piercing in his ear. Although the attorney of the Woodward denied all charges
of hate crime against him and stated that, it is just a misconception and developed
story (Emery, 2018).

Hate crime enhancement of Blaze Bernstein.

The hate crime enhancement occurred for the Blaze Bernstein case for many reasons.
One of the most prominent reasons was that he was stabbed 20 times on his face and
neck, which reflects some kind of hatred and offense against the victim, which cannot
be seen in a regular murder. Another reason for this hate crime enhancement occurred
when the investigator of the case Dylan Jantzen testified in during a hearing in
courtroom that Woodward said to him that he wanted to curse Blaze and call him a
slur for being gay. This statement is a clear reflection of hate and biases against the
sexual orientation and gender identity of Blaze. Against this statement from the
investigator, the defense lawyer of the Woodward could not provide any proof but

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declared that the accuser has autism and he is confused about his own gender identity
(Taxin, 2018).

Another reason for the enhancement of hate crime scene was the testifying statement
given by Goldsmith in the court. Goldsmith stated that Woodward had over 100 pieces
of the content related to violent hate group Atomwaffen. He also had the group’s
insignia wallpaper on his smartphone. Goldsmith also stated that he sent an email to
himself that had the subject called “Sam’s Diary of Hate”. This email had the content
related to hate, weapons, and he also had references of Nazi in his cell phone (Press,
2018).

According to Goldsmith, he sent another mail to himself that had a subject of

“Woodward Gay Pranking”. He wrote to himself that he terrified a gay man with the
photos of dating as well as showed him the photos of a gay man being killed. He also
wrote in his email that one person replied to his prank that he will inform the FBI for
his actions. He mentioned in his email that “They think they are going to get hate
crime”. These are all the statements and facts obtained from Woodward according to
Goldsmith. Another hint that leads towards this murder as a hate crime was a
statement shared by the investigator Jantzen; he said that just before two weeks of
stabbing Blaze, Woodward wrote on his snap chat; “texting is boring but murder isn’t”
(Press, 2018).

These are all the evidence and fact that lead the case towards a hate crime scene.
The gestures and expression of Woodward against the homosexual orientation of gay
and his hatred towards gays and playing gay pranks on the internet all show that he
used his biases and hatred to kill the victim.

Atomwaffen division (AWD) is a socialist terrorist organization that is working with the
intention to collapse civilizations. The Atomwaffen Division (AWD) is a notorious white
supremacist group. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, 2019 AWD is a
terroristic national socialist organization that formed out of Iron March in 2015. The
members of this organization surely believe that violence is the only way to make their
point of view clear to the world or get their voices heard. They are working with the
strategy that can be dated back to The Order, which was found by the Robert Jay
Mathews in the 1980s. This organization was founded and based on the violent and
capable whites supremacists (SPLC, 2018). The content of AWD found in the phone

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of Woodward reflect his association with the organization and his intentions behind the
murder of Blaze.

Neo-Nazism or Neo-Nazi school of thought can be defined as the post-world War II

social or political movement based on German ideology. The Neo-Nazi movements
practice violence to implement and impose their ideology to remove minorities. For
this purpose, they use violent actions against minority groups. This school of thought
borrows the concepts such as racism, nationalism, homophobia anti-communism, etc.
from Nazism (Gay, 1997). The presence of Nazi content in the cell phone Woodward
also shows that his action was totally biased and against the sexual orientation of
Blaze. The Woodward enhancement of hate crime story is also linked to the concept
of Neo-Nazi that he tried to impose his own ideology and used violence to remove the
minority groups from society.

The case of Samuel Woodward hates crime story had a grave impact on society and
psychology of the individuals. It also a threat for the minority groups and a clear
message that minority groups are not safe in part of the world. The murder of Blaze
out of hatred and biases encourage other Neo-Nazi group members to impose their
ideology through violence and physical assault of the fellow human beings. This also
reflects the superiority of the criminal over the victim who was gay and had an
undesired or unwanted sexual orientation. His identity and sexual orientation made
him the victim of hatred and biases because society accepts the standards of racism
and gender differences.

References

Capon, T., 2018. Samuel Woodward pleads not guilty for the murder of gay college
student. [Online]
Available at: https://www.gaystarnews.com/article/samuel-woodward-not-guilty-
blaze-bernstein/#gs.9bty8o
[Accessed 2 May 2019].
Emery, S., 2018. Blaze Bernstein murder case: Attorney for Samuel Woodward
denies hate-crime allegation, says his client has a ‘serious mental disorder’. [Online]
Available at: https://www.ocregister.com/2018/08/22/blaze-bernstein-murder-case-
attorney-for-samuel-woodward-denies-hate-crime-allegation-says-his-client-has-a-

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serious-mental-disorder/
[Accessed 2 May 2019].
FBI, 2019. Hate Crimes. [Online]
Available at: https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/civil-rights/hate-crimes
[Accessed 2 May 2019].
Gay, K., 1997. Neo-Nazis: A Growing Threat. s.l.:Enslow.
Meyer, D., 2014. "Resisting Hate Crime Discourse: Queer and Intersectional
Challenges to Neoliberal Hate Crime Laws".. Critical Criminology, Volume 22, p.
113–125.
Press, A., 2018. Man to stand trial for Ivy League student’s murder. [Online]
Available at: https://nypost.com/2018/09/04/man-to-stand-trial-for-ivy-league-
students-murder/
[Accessed 2 May 2019].
SPLC, 2018. Atomwaffen Division. [Online]
Available at: https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-
files/group/atomwaffen-division
[Accessed 2 May 2019].
Stotzer, R., 2007. "Comparison of Hate Crime Rates Across Protected and
Unprotected Groups", s.l.: Williams Institute.
Taxin, A., 2018. Man Accused Of Murdering Gay Student Blaze Bernstein Pleads
Not Guilty. [Online]
Available at: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/samuel-woodward-blaze-bernstein-
death-not-guilty_n_5be981bde4b0e843889a4ab5
[Accessed 2 May 2019].