I don't see this as a hate crime - but as an opportunistic crime. But I find it horrifying. I had a friend murdered a few years ago, and one of the killers was 15. His oldest brother (22) was already on death row for murder. His next oldest brother (18) was arrested the same day the younger brother was for the beating death of a homeless man. My friend was a mechanic - Pakistani - a small guy with a huge heart. He was beaten to a pulp and nearly beheaded, so the three killers could rob his house and truck.

I think when we dismiss killings of homeless people as less important than killings in suburbia, we start on down a very scary path. Somehow these people are getting the message that the fact that the homeless are less able to hide or defend themselves makes them fair game. The fact that the media likes to classify - killed a prostitute, killed a homeless person, Killed a subruban white middle class person is a part of the problem.



Across Nation, Unprovoked Beatings of Homeless Soar; 142 Attacks Occurred Last Year Alone

By TODD LEWAN, AP National Writer

ORLANDO, Fla. (Associated Press) -- It was a balmy night, the sort that brings the homeless out from the shelters, when the police were summoned to America Street. On the driveway of a condo, just a few paces from the gutter, lay a man. A dying man.

He looked to be 50-ish, and a resident of Orlando's streets, judging by the moldy jacket. And he'd been bludgeoned _ so badly bludgeoned that he could hardly move.

Before being rushed to the hospital, where he died of his head injuries, the man, August Felix, described his attackers. Young fellows did it, he whispered to the officers who got to him first. Kids.

Within three months, two 16-year-olds and three 15-year-olds had been charged with second-degree homicide in the March 26, 2006, attack. The motive? "I don't think there was a motive," Sgt. Barbara Jones, a police spokeswoman, said, "other than, 'Let's beat someone up.'"

That high-schoolers had turned _ allegedly on a whim _ into executioners brought pause to city officials and advocates for the homeless, not just because the killing was unprovoked, but because it fit into a trend larger than Orlando: a nationwide surge in violence largely by teenagers and young adults against some of America's most vulnerable citizens.

A 2006 report by the National Coalition for the Homeless found 142 attacks last year against homeless people, 20 of which resulted in death _ a 65 percent increase from 2005, when 86 were violently assaulted, including 13 homicides.

By comparison, 60 such attacks were reported in 1999, the year the coalition _ the only entity to gather such data _ began to study the problem.

And these numbers are likely low because they only reflect the most egregious attacks reported in newspapers or by agencies that serve the homeless and some victims themselves, according to Michael Stoops, acting executive director of the Washington-based coalition.

The trend is particularly troubling, he says, because such attacks no longer occur just in major cities on the East and West Coasts, as was the case in the 1980s.

In its most recent study, "Hate, Violence, and Death on Main Street USA," the coalition documented attacks against the destitute in 62 communities last year alone, in 26 states. Since 1999, such violence has occurred in 44 states and Puerto Rico, and in 200 communities nationwide.

An overwhelming majority of the attackers _ 88 percent _ were 25 or younger; 95 percent were male. No less than 68 percent of those accused and convicted in attacks were between the ages of 13 and 19.

This pattern of violence, in Stoops' view, hasn't gotten the attention it deserves from the public or law enforcement.

"Homeless people are the newest minority group in America that is 'OK' to hate and hurt," he said. "It's as though, somehow, they're viewed as less deserving, less human than the rest of us."

Americans did pay attention to the story of 58-year-old Jacques Pierre, a homeless man who'd been sleeping on a bench on a college campus when three teenagers woke him up, taunted him, then nearly killed him with baseball bats.

Why?

That Jan. 12, 2006, ambush in Fort Lauderdale was filmed by a surveillance camera, and broadcast worldwide.

"For once," says Sean Cononie, who operates a homeless shelter in that seaside city, "Americans saw with their own eyes how kids hunt down and kill homeless people as though it were a sport."

Such "sport" has occurred elsewhere:

_In Toms River, N.J., five high-school students were charged with beating a 50-year-old homeless man nearly to death with pipes and baseball bats _ throwing hockey pucks at him for good measure _ as he slept in the woods.

_In Butte, Mont., a 53-year-old homeless man was killed at a Greyhound bus depot because he refused to give another man a cigarette, according to court records. The victim's skull was fractured. The 22-year-old assailant received a 50-year prison sentence.

_In Spokane, Wash., a one-legged, 50-year-old homeless man was set on fire in his wheelchair on a downtown street; he died of his burns. Police charged a 22-year-old man with first-degree murder.

_In Nashville, Tenn., a 32-year-old homeless woman sleeping on a boat ramp was shoved into the Cumberland River, according to witnesses. Two men, ages 21 and 22, were charged with homicide in her drowning; authorities say the attack was unprovoked.

Cononie, who also publishes a monthly newspaper, "The Homeless Voice," reported another trend:

"Kids are even starting to videotape themselves hurting homeless people. That's something we never saw before."

He was referring to an February incident in Corpus Christi, Texas, in which a 22-year-old, a 16-year-old and a 15-year-old describe on camera how they are going to assault a homeless man, then do so.

On the tape, the attackers kick the man in the back, grab him, and flip him around to show off his injuries, according to police. The camera, which had been stolen, was recovered by the owner, who called police once she saw the footage.

Police have arrested one of the teens, and are looking for the other two suspects. The victim suffered a concussion but survived.

Some perpetrators are even younger. In late March, a homeless day laborer was walking at night through a neighborhood of Daytona Beach, Fla., when three boys on bicycles attacked him, striking him with a concrete block.

Two of the boys were 10 years old; the third was 17. Each has been charged with aggravated battery. "For a 10-year-old to pick up a cinder block and smash somebody's face with it, that defies logic," Michael Chitwood, Daytona's police chief, later told a reporter.

Though for the past decade assaults on the homeless have dotted the U.S. map, Florida is the state where such attacks are most frequent by far, the coalition's February report says.

Last year, the coalition documented 48 attacks in Florida, where 60,867 of the state's 17.8 million residents are homeless, according to federal figures. By comparison, 11 attacks were counted in California, where 170,270 of that state's 36 million people are homeless.

While some investigators believe the attacks are random, Sgt. Richard Ring, who investigated the murder of August Felix in Orlando last year, sees "a more deep-seated problem here."

As he puts it, "Our young people get prejudices from their parents in regard to homeless people. They don't identify with the homeless, and they don't seem to see them as important." With Felix, Ring adds, "the juveniles targeted him because he was easy prey."

Homeless advocates also link the trend to the popularity of "Bumfights," a video series created in 2001 and sold on the Internet. The videos feature homeless people battering one another for money.

A Bumfights DVD was cited as inspiration by a 19-year-old who pounced on a homeless man as he slept on a Los Angeles sidewalk, then pummeled him with an aluminum baseball bat. The 2005 beating put Ernest Adams, 56, into a coma for three weeks and cost him the sight in one eye.

Last July, a jury found his attacker, Justin Brumfield, guilty of assault; he is serving an 11-year prison sentence.

Internet site Bumfights.com, which sells the videos, says the purpose is to call attention to poverty and violence. "Please do not miss the point of these videos! Educate yourself. Help those who are less fortunate. Spread love not hate," the Web site says.

In 2002, Donald Brennan and Rufus Hannah, two homeless, army veterans, filed suit against the Las Vegas producers, alleging they were paid small amounts of money to bash their heads into walls, light their hair on fire, attack each other, and to tattoo "Bumfights" in bold letters across their hands and foreheads.

Later, the Bumfights producers agreed to pay an unspecified amount in damages and to no longer use Hannah and Brennan's images for promotional purposes.

The shock-video producers also pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to stage an illegal fight for their videos in 2003, and were ordered to perform community service. (In 2005, they were sentenced to six months in prison for having failed to complete the community service.)

The Associated Press sent an e-mail to Bumfights.com seeking comment for this story, but got no response.

A number of local governments have adopted ordinances that restrict where and when the homeless can sleep, stroll, beg, eat, bathe, or do laundry. And this trend may have an unintended effect _ reinforcing negative stereotypes of homelessness, which contributes to the violence, some advocates say.

"When cities pass laws that target homeless people, they send a message to their communities that the homeless are not as valuable in the public eye as those with homes," says Tulin Ozdeger, a civil rights attorney at the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty.

Of late, there have been signs that lawmakers may be ready to crack down harder on those who assault the homeless without provocation _ one being a recent push to categorize such attacks as hate crimes.

Currently, gays, along with racial, ethnic and religious groups, are covered by various hate crime laws around the country; convictions under these statutes usually carry harsher sentences than other types of crime.

Brian Levin, a criminologist and hate crimes expert at Cal State San Bernardino, says attacks on homeless people "fit the category like a glove," and should be punished as severely.

Hate crimes, he says, bear similar hallmarks: stereotyped victims, offenders who act on latent prejudices, offenders who seek thrills or feel superior to their victims, and a mob mentality that sweeps away caution.

"And on all these points," says Levin, "the attacks against the homeless are really indistinguishable from other hate crimes except for one difference _ there are a heck of a lot more of them."

Between 1999 and 2005, 82 people were killed in America because of their race, ethnicity, or religious or sexual orientation, according to the FBI, which has been collecting data on hate crimes since 1990.

There were 169 homeless people murdered during that same period, the National Coalition for the Homeless says _ a statistic that Levin describes as "astounding." It has caught the attention of some lawmakers.

Twenty-six members of Congress have asked the Government Accountability Office to determine whether attacks on the homeless should be classified as hate crimes under federal law.

In the meantime, homeless hate-crime bills are moving through the legislatures of six states: Maryland, California, Massachusetts, Nevada, Texas and Florida.

__________________
And there is distrust in Washington. I am surprised, frankly, at the amount of distrust that exists in this town. And I'm sorry it's the case, and I'll work hard to try to elevate it." --George W. Bush, Jan. 29, 2007

Very sad. I hope the killers pay for their crimes.

interesting. I think it reflects a really fundamental problem that we are seeing across the board.

Its about how we value people, and its about our we see ourselves.

The causes are not just one thing. There have been two cases that I know of in Australia where boys have videotaped gang rapes and sexual assaults on girls and then put them out on youtube or whatever (idiots obviously who don't understand this is step 1 in how to get yourself arrested) ...

This should be explored in detail.

The questions I think need to be asked are in relation to

1.what messages we are sending to young people about 'others' (whether they be the homeless, other ethnic groups, the other sex, old people, people who 'aren't cool,' whatever), and

2.what behaviour is OK (what are we modelling in popular culture and media behaviour springs to mind), and

3. what makes young people feel OK about themselves.

not necessarily limted to these questions, and not just in this order.

and then - what are the solutions?

I think that ALL crimes of equivalent violence need to be given equal weight regardless of the victim - both in terms of sentencing, and media attention - for starters.

Thats all I have to say for now - but I think its an important issue. Thanks for bringing it up.

Unfortunately, such reports will probably be on the increase.

The left has, since the 1960s, been on a bender to remove every possible scintilla of traditional values, moral standards and discipline in family life, thinking that those things are somehow a hindrance to personal freedom. Add to the mix self-centered, self-obsessed parenting that fails to foster any sense of personal responsibility in their children; sprinkle with a liberal (pun intended) dose of popular entertainment media/culture in which every sort of violent act is glorified and this is what can result. It has taken a few generations to bear fruit, but now we are starting to see a most rotten harvest from what has been planted.

If you leave out at least one of the above items then you may not have these kinds of things happen, but all of them together is a powerful recipe for some real problems.

As a final insult, the left insists that everyone else bear the cost of their lust for 'enlightened, progressive attitudes'. They've basically had their way for 40 years and its alarming toll on our country is evident; especially on crimes against children.

Yes, I personally know a few 'lefties' that do a darn good job of raising responsible children, and as well a few 'righties' that are pure failures in the area of parenting... parenting failures know no political bounds. As I outlined above, if you have too many of the wrong ingredients you get a huge potential for an antisocial behavior disaster.

Since they are poor, I doubt the vast majority of the folks in the US really give a damn. If these were relatively wealthy, white, and good looking females who had been murdered in a Carribean nation, the story would be completely different. We suck.