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Example research essay topic: Dismantling The Homosexual Panic Defense - 1,118 words

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... d excitement and to feel strong. " On the other hand, peer dynamic assailants commit assaults "to prove their toughness and heterosexuality to their friends. " Dr. Franklins conclusions suggest that the likelihood of gay panic is rather low. Murders of homosexuals are more likely to be extreme hate crimes based on these motivating factors. Unfortunately, jurors are still accepting this defense of temporary insanity due to gay panic. Such cases are travesties of our justice system.

Just two years ago, after meeting Kenneth Brewer in a gay bar, Stephen Bright, a former hotel executive, went home with him. After an alleged sexual advance, Bright then beat Brewer to death. Although he was charged with second-degree murder, a Hawaiian jury found Bright guilty only of third-degree assault (a misdemeanor) in the killing and sentenced him to one year in jail, with $ 2000 dollars in fines (Stryker 2; Janofsky 3). He has been out of prison for over a year. Although this incident caused great dismay within the gay community, it failed to make national headlines. The implications of the homosexual panic defense are elucidated by this case; there are too many potential societal costs associated with letting a jury make a biased decision.

The mere fact that juries are able to excuse these actions suggests the inherent homophobia in our society. We cannot let juries set a precedent that it is acceptable to kill out of hatred for gays. Fortunately, juries have become less willing to accept homosexual panic as a defense in recent years. In contrast to the sixties and seventies, the gay panic defense is no longer a guarantee of an acquittal or reduced charges (Hammer 2). Brian Levin, director of the California-based Center on Hate and Extremism, believes that this decline is the result of increasing tolerance of homosexuals in America, noting that "weve turned a very big corner in that nearly everyone agrees that violence against [homosexuals] is completely wrong" (Black 1).

Richard Haynes, director of the New York City Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project, points to the ludicrous nature of the defense in that "if women could use the equivalent of a gay panic defense for every unwanted advance by men, there would be no heterosexual men left" (Hammer 1). Huebner is outraged at the use of the homosexual panic defense. "The homosexual panic defense is the legal opposite of the hate crime legislation in our judicial system. " One tries to make hate crimes a more serious offense, whereas the homosexual panic defense is lessening the severity of the most heinous of hate crimes. Murder is only the most extreme expression of homophobic hate crimes. Nearly half of all gays and lesbians have been threatened with violence; an overwhelming eighty percent have been verbally abused.

Gay bashing Excusing violence motivated by prejudice is simple reprehensible. This defense devalues the life of a gay person, preying on "the emotions of a jury by lessening the value of a gay persons life because they allegedly made an advance" (Cart "Says" 2). This defense puts the victim on trial, analyzing his actions and deciding where the blame should lie. By concentrating so much on the nature of the sexual advance, the suggestion is that some homosexual advances are not only wrong, but also worthy of murder.

The Harvard editors stress that "even when defendants do not raise homosexual panic as a defense, the admission of evidence of a victims homosexuality often results in an undue lenience towards the defendants" (Stryker 2). It suggests that gay men are "asking for it" by their behavior or mere existence. The simple fact of the matter is that excuses for violence based on any prejudice should not be tolerated; a defense claiming fear and panic against an ethnic minority would never be allowed. Whether a person suffered from insanity in an attack against a gay or another minority is irrelevant. If we allow these types of defense to bear weight, the societal repercussions are too severe. It becomes too easy for atrocities in the justice system to exist; it becomes too easy for hate crimes to be excused.

We should not allow this defense of extreme hatred to stand in cases involving attacks against gays. Homophobic hatred cannot be employed as an affirmative defense for criminal acts. Not only is this morally wrong, but the costs to the nation are simply too high if we allow juries with individual prejudices make such critical decisions. We still have a long way to go in the fight against homophobia, but the justice system can act as a catalyst in this process by refusing to allow this defense to exist.

There must be an end to the use of the homosexual panic defense; it can no longer be used to excuse the brutality and murder in our society. Judges around the nation must follow the example of Judge Barton Voigt in Aaron Mckinney's case and simply reject this specious defense. We should be proud of how far weve come but we must be aware that we still have a long way to go. Bibliography: Works Cited Adams, Henry E.

and Bethany A. Lohr and Lester W. Wright. "Is Homophobia Associated With Sexual Arousal?" Journal of Abnormal Psychology. Vol. 105, No. 3: 440 - 445. "Antigay MPs Challenged to Take the Test Research Shows that Most Homophobes are Gay. " Outrage. 17 March 1997.

Black, Robert. "Defendant Adopts Gay Panic Defense in Students Death. " San Francisco Chronicle. 27 October 1999. Cart, Julie. "Defense Rests Case in Shepard Beating Trial. " Los Angeles Times. 2 November 1999. Hammer, Joshua. "The Gay Panic Defense. " Newsweek. 8 November 1999. Hunter, James.

Personal Interview. 7 November 1999. Janofsky, Michael. "Judge Rejects Gay Panic as Defense in Murder Case. " New York Times. 2 November 1999. Lawrence, J. M. "Psych Experts: Wisconsin Crime Typical of Threatened Straight Men. " The Boston Herald. 13 October 1998. Like, Jerry. "Homo Nest Raided, Queen Bees Are Stinging Mad. " The New York Daily News. 6 July 1969. Malo, Aaron, Matthew Beach and Joseph Levin. "The Temporary Insanity Defense. " Public Law Research Institute Report.

Los Angeles: U of California, Hastings College of the Law, 1994. "Repressed Homosexuality Could Be Root of Homophobia. " Psychiatric News. 20 September 1996. Sleek, Scott. "Study Looks at Urges of Homophobic Men. " American Psychological Association Monitor. October 1996. Stryker, Jeff. "Asking for it. " Salon Magazine. 23 October 1998. Swift, Michael. "Stonewall. " 1997. < web > Winer, Gary. "Hate Crimes, Homosexuals and the Constitution. " Harvard Civil Rights- Civil Liberties Law Review, Spring 1993. 29 Harv. C.

R. -C. L. L. Rev. 387. 1993 President and Fellows of Harvard College.


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