Teen Hate Crimes - Teach Tolerance and Encourage Diversity
Hate crimes are criminal actions intended to harm or intimidate people because of their race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, or other minority group status. They are also referred to as bias crimes. The headlines of the three Long Island teenagers who admitted to being part of a gang that targeted Hispanics for violence were sentenced to seven-year prison terms Wednesday for their roles in the 2008 killing of an Ecuadorean immigrant. A fourth teen who met the group on the night of the slaying was sentenced to a six-year prison sentence, is yet another awareness to hate crimes . In Broward County we have experience hate crimes with teens through bullying and violence . 16 year-old Wayne Treacy is being tried as an adult in the brutal beating of 15 year-old Josie Ratley . There are 3 teen defendants being tried as adults for the near death of 15 year-old Michael Brewer. In these cases, although we are not dealing with religious or sexual orient...