I WAS FRAZZLED BY THE CRUEL STORY I had seen on the news station airing someone who stole someone’s wheelchair. The owner of the stolen wheelchair looked devastated. Someone had stolen his means of getting around. His legs were his wheelchair.
I wondered why someone would take something so critical for daily life survival.
Then I remembered a few stories where people stole wheelchairs or electric scooters for “fun” as a prank, or to try to resell it for monetary gain. When situations such as this happen, it’s a crime, a hate crime against a person with disabilities.
When people with disabilities are specifically targeted, they become what many would call victims of a hate crime.
The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) defines a hate crime as a criminal offense against a person, property, or society that is motivated, in whole or in part, by the offender’s bias against race, religion, ethnic/national origin, gender, age, disability, or sexual orientation.
A person has committed a hate crime when, based on the above criteria, he or she commits assault or battery, theft, criminal trespass, damage to property, mob action, disorderly conduct, or telephone harassment upon an individual or a group.
People with disabilities are not exempt as victims of violent crimes, such as robbery and assault.
Some research finds that the rate of major crimes against people with substantial disabilities are four to 10 times higher than that of the general population.
The FBI reported 11,862 hate crime incidents in 2023, the most recent full-year data available, which was a slight increase from the 11,634 incidents reported in 2022.
An important note is that these numbers are widely considered to be undercounted; significant numbers of hate crimes are not reported to the police. Law enforcement participation in the FBI’s reporting is not universal.
Bias motivation categories for victims of single-bias incidents in 2024
•Race/ethnicity/ancestry 53.2%
•Religion 23.5%
•Sexual orientation 17%
•Gender identity 7.2%
•Disability 1.3%
•Gender .9% It is difficult to recognize that persons are deliberately selected from some of the categories and targeted as victims.
Any of the above crimes under the umbrella of criminal offense and offenders bias constitute as a hate crime according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
Hate crime investigations by the FBI have happened since WW1 and the FBI’s role in investigating hate crimes has increased since the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The best thing anyone in the community can do when they witness a hate crime is to report it to the local police and to be aware of critical issues going on in the community.
Sister Karen Zielinski is the Director of Canticle Studio. Canticle Studio is a part of the Sisters of St. Francis of Sylvania, OH’s overall advancement effort and has a mission of being a creative center where artists generate works, products, and services in harmony with the mission of the Sisters St. Francis. She can be reached at kzielins @sistersosf.org or 419-824-3543. ✲
