Scholar Says Hate Crime Hoaxers Should Be Prosecuted

by Jim Brown
April 29, 2004

(AgapePress) - An author and researcher says nearly all hate crimes reported on college campuses end up being hoaxes. Two African-American students at San Francisco State University, a Latino student at Northwestern University, and a lesbian professor at Claremont College all recently staged fake "hate crimes" on campus.

This latest rash of such incidents does not surprise Laird Wilcox, author of Crying Wolf: Hate Crime Hoaxes in America. Wilcox says fraudulent hate crimes occur most often on college campuses and many times involve individuals seeking instant celebrity. But sometimes, he notes, the hoaxers have more complex goals in mind.

"The other motives are to advance a political agenda," the author says. He explains: "On some campuses you have civil rights workers and organizations that just don't have much to do because there's not much discrimination on the campus. Then they'll get a little worried about this and think that their moral claims are in some way or another not being recognized so they'll concoct an incident -- usually graffiti, because graffiti is easy to concoct."

In most cases the hate crime hoaxes are perpetrated by ethnic minorities, Wilcox says, adding, "Usually there is more than one person involved, although not necessarily. It's kind of amorphous and can range to a whole bunch of different circumstances."

But even when hate crime hoaxes are discovered, Wilcox notes, the media instantly focuses on the psychological state of the perpetrator and tries to dismiss the incident as the result of an emotional problem. The author feels that these false victims are often coddled when they should be regarded as criminals and treated accordingly.

Wilcox believes those who fake hate crimes should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, just as the perpetrators of hate crimes would be prosecuted. He feels law enforcement authorities need to send a strong message about stagers of hate crimes because the hoaxers create a false image of what is going on in American society.