Changing face of hate crimes

A series of incidents in which swastikas were found scrawled on walls, schools and streets, a cross burned on a lawn and a racist e-mail sent to a young girl had one thing in common: In each, Rockland teenagers were accused of committing hate crimes. The involvement of teenagers in spreading hate has become common across the country, experts say. (...) 'When most people think of hate crimes, they think of organized groups like the Klan, and other white supremacists and neo-Nazi groups,' says Jack Levin, director of the Brudnick Center on Conflict and Violence at Northeastern University in Boston. 'A typical hate crime is not committed by someone wearing a sheet, a hood or an armband,' Levin said, 'a young adult or teenager, or group of teenagers are more likely to commit a hate crime.' Levin, who wrote the book 'Why We Hate,' estimated that organized hate groups commit 5 percent of the reported hate crimes across the country. (...) A hate crime is defined as a physical, verbal or written attack on a person or group based on race, religion, gender, ethnicity or sexual orientation. The American Psychological Association says hate crime is not only "an attack on one's physical self, but it is also an attack on one's very identity.