Easy Prey for Hate
Of all crimes committed in the United States, hate crimes are the most likely to create or sharpen tensions, which can trigger larger community-wide racial conflict, civil disturbances, and even riots. Hate crimes put cities and towns at-risk of serious social and economic consequences. These crimes can be minor assaults all the way up to committing murder. Out of all the types of hate crimes committed, disability and age hate are one of the most violent and under reported because the victims are perceived as “weak”, victims are not reporting, and the criminals who commit the crime develop a negative mindset about disabilities early in life.
Even though it is not on the FBI’s statistics when calculating hate crimes reported, age hate should not be under minded or forgotten. On March 4, 2013, a Brentwood teenager named Justin Frank has been accused of hate crime charges of stealing from three elderly Queens men (ages 77-92) that he allegedly targeted because of their age. According to the report by Timothy Bolger, it states that, “Frank and several other suspects who have yet to be apprehended tricked elderly men into letting them in to their homes… then later forced them into another room while they stool their belongings.” This 18-year-old teenager was charged with burglary as a hate crime and robbery as a hate crime (Bolger). Elderly people are perceived as easy targets for such crimes and are advised to not live alone because of it. Elderly people are almost always targeted for their money, with frauds and false promises by their own “friends” or family.
Age hate crimes against elderly sometimes can also be physical and violent. In early March, an 82 year old woman named Faye Jones was brutally beaten and murdered inside her own home in Cocoa, Florida. Police say that the motive was robbery and the suspect stool hundreds of dollars...