Asian-Americans Are Being Attacked. Why Are Hate Crime Charges So Rare?
On a cold evening last month, a Chinese man was walking home near Manhattan’s Chinatown neighborhood when a stranger suddenly ran up behind him and plunged ( ) a knife into his back.
For many Asian-Americans, the stabbing ( ) was horrifying, but not surprising. It was widely seen as just the latest example of racially targeted violence against Asians during the pandemic.
But the perpetrator ( ), a 23-year-old man from Yemen, had not said a word to the victim before the attack, investigators ( ) said. Prosecutors ( ) determined they lacked enough evidence to prove a racist ( ) motive ( ). The attacker was charged with attempted murder, but not as a hate crime ( ).
The announcement outraged ( ) Asian-American leaders in New York City. Many of them protested ( ) outside the Manhattan district attorney’s office, demanding that the stabbing be prosecuted as a hate crime. They were tired of what they saw as racist assaults being overlooked ( ) by the authorities ( ).
The rally ( ) reflected the tortured ( ) public conversation over how to confront ( ) a rise in reports of violence against Asian-Americans, who have felt increasingly vulnerable ( ) with each new attack. Many incidents have either not led to arrests or have not been charged as hate crimes, making it difficult to capture with reliable data the extent to which Asian-Americans are being targeted.
That frustration erupted on a national scale ( ) this week after Robert Aaron Long, a white man, was charged with fatally shooting eight people, including six women of Asian descent ( ), at spas in the Atlanta area on Tuesday night.
Other incidents that clearly seemed racially motivated have not resulted in arrests. The police are still searching for a man who called an Asian-American mother the “Chinese virus” and spat ( ) at her child in Queens last week.
In New York State, to charge ( ) such attacks as hate crimes, prosecutors would need to show that the victims were targeted because of their race.
But proving a racist motive can be particularly difficult with attacks against Asians, experts say. There is no widely recognized symbol of anti-Asian hate comparable to a noose ( ) or a swastika ( ). Historically, many Asian crime victims around the country were small-business owners who were robbed, complicating ( ) the question of motive.
Under New York State law, certain offenses can be upgraded to hate crimes, increasing the potential prison sentence ( ). As evidence, prosecutors often point to hateful verbal statements or social media posts by the defendant ( ).
In the past month alone, several assaults ( ) on Asian victims have been reported to the police, including an attack on an older woman who was pushed outside a bakery in Queens. None of the incidents has been charged as a hate crime.
In fact, the only person who has been prosecuted for an anti-Asian hate crime in New York City this year is Taiwanese. He was accused of writing anti-Chinese graffiti outside several businesses in Queens.
Wayne Ho, president of the Chinese-American Planning Council, a social services agency, said many of his Asian colleagues were verbally harassed ( ) during the pandemic but chose not to alert law enforcement because they worried the perpetrators, who were often people of color, could be mistreated ( ) by the police.
“I asked myself, do I want this person in jail?” said Alice Wong, one of Mr. Ho’s colleagues. “Just because you put someone in jail doesn’t make them not hate anyone anymore.”
Recognizing ( ) this challenge, some law enforcement officials have called for people who commit hate crimes to attend antiracism classes as an alternative ( ) to prison.
為何針對亞裔的暴力襲擊難以被控仇恨犯罪？
上月一個寒冷的晚上，一名華裔男子在曼哈頓中國城社區附近步行回家時，一個陌生人突然跑到他身後，把刀刺進他的後背。
對許多亞裔美國人來說，這起事件令人驚恐，但並不意外。人們普遍認為，這只是在疫情期間針對亞裔的種族暴力的最新例子。
但調查人員表示，行兇者是一名23歲的葉門男子，他在襲擊前沒有對受害者說過一句話。檢察官認為缺乏足夠的證據來證明種族主義動機。襲擊者被指控謀殺未遂，而不是出於仇恨犯罪。
這一聲明激怒了紐約市的亞裔美國人領袖。他們中的許多人在曼哈頓地區檢察官辦公室外抗議，要求以仇恨犯罪的罪名起訴。他們厭倦了他們眼中的種族主義攻擊被當局忽視。
這次集會反映了對於如何應對暴力侵害亞裔美國人的報導增多，公眾開始了痛苦的討論。每一次新的襲擊都讓亞裔美國人感到越來越脆弱。許多事件要不是沒有逮捕任何人，就是沒有被指控為仇恨犯罪，因此很難用可靠的數據來了解亞裔美國人在多大程度上成為攻擊目標。
在白人男子羅伯特•亞倫•朗(Robert Aaron Long)被控週二晚在亞特蘭大地區的水療中心開槍打死八人（其中包括六名亞裔女性）後，這種不滿情緒本週在全國範圍內爆發。
其他明顯帶有種族動機的事件並沒有導致逮捕。目前警方仍在搜尋一名男子，此人上週在皇后區稱一名亞裔美國母親為「中國病毒」，並向她的孩子吐口水。
在紐約州，要指控此類襲擊為仇恨犯罪，檢察官需要證明受害者是因其種族而成為攻擊目標。
但專家表示，在針對亞裔的攻擊中，證明種族主義動機可能特別困難。沒有一種被廣泛認可的反亞裔仇恨象徵可以對應套索或納粹符號。歷史上，全國各地的許多亞裔犯罪受害者都是被搶劫的小商店業者，這使得動機問題變得更加複雜。
根據紐約州的法律，某些犯罪行為可以升級為仇恨犯罪，從而增加潛在的監禁刑期。作為證據，檢察官經常指出被告充滿仇恨的口頭聲明或社群媒體發文。
僅在過去的一個月中，警方就接到了數起針對亞裔受害者的襲擊報告，其中包括在皇后區一名老年女性被推出一家麵包店。沒有任何事件被指控為仇恨犯罪。
實際上，紐約市今年因反亞裔仇恨罪被起訴的唯一一人是台灣人。他被指控在皇后區的幾家商店外塗鴉反華內容。
社會服務機構華裔美國人規劃委員會(Chinese-American Planning Council)主席韋恩•何(Wayne Ho)表示，他的許多亞裔同事在疫情大流行期間受到了口頭騷擾，但他們選擇不向執法部門報告，因為他們擔心騷擾者（通常是有色人種）可能會受到警方的虐待。
「我問自己，我想讓這個人進監獄嗎？」韋恩•何的同事愛麗絲•黃(Alice Wong)說。「把一個人關進監獄並不會讓他們不再憎恨任何人。」
認識到這一挑戰，一些執法官員呼籲犯下仇恨罪行的人參加反種族歧視課程，以替代坐牢。
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#國立大學英文學系講師
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