Chapter 1 Introduction

1.1 Motivation

“Inside each of us, there is the seed of both good and evil. It’s a constant struggle as to which one will win. And one cannot exist without the other.”

The world around us has been knit into a global village due to the rapid advancements in various areas of science and technology over the last two decades. As we continue to take large leaps in progressing as a civilization, a raising concern is the rise in criminal activities around the world. As more people gain access to express their opinions and make their own choices in every aspect of their life, there seems to be a polarization in the population which sows seeds for acts of violence against other individuals who may not conform to their identities. Furthermore, the ease of access to weapons or lack of sufficient surveillance goes hand-in-hand with intent of malice and intolerance among individuals. Although, one might argue that acts of felony existed throughout human history, it is paramount to observe, analyse and take measures to curb/prevent it in the current era as the consequences (if not controlled) could be so detrimental that it could draw us back as a civilization.

1.2 HATE CRIME

Although, the definition for hate crime continuous to evolve, we can understand it as "a prejudice motivated offense which takes place when a perpetrator targets a victim due to the latter’s association or perceived association with a certain social group, sexual/gender identity or race demographic.

Some examples of hate crimes can be:

  • Acts which result in injury, even if the injury is slight.
  • Threats of violence that looks like they can be carried out.
  • Acts which result in property damage.
  • Any criminal act or attempted criminal act, including property damage, directed against public or private agencies.

In the recent years, the world has witnessed a vast array of hate crime. Among these, some of the widely known incidents are:

1.3 Our Proposal

In this project, we strive to draw insights from homicides records of the United States and answer questions revolving around the possible correlations or causation for them. Some of the questions we pondered upon during the exploration of the data were:

  • Is the rate of crimes motivated by biases uniform across all states over the years? Can any underlying phenomenon be attributed to the rise/fall in the crime rate?
  • Fundamentally, what are reasons for such tolerance: bias towards groups of people belonging to any ethnicity, race, religion or sexual orientation?
  • Are there any involvment of minors in such crimes?
  • Is there any correlation between the rise of gun-violence and such hate motivated crimes?
  • Are there any places which are more prone to such acts of violence? What is the extent of such homicides?