In Queens, New York, Nicholas Minucci, a Caucasian, fractured the skull of African American Glenn Moore with a baseball bat and robbed him in June 2005. Witnesses testified that Minucci used a racial slur before and during the attack.

In October 1998, near Laramie, Wyoming, Russell Henderson and Aaron McKinney robbed, beat, and tied Matthew Shepard, a gay man, to a fence. Five days after the attack, Shepard died from his injuries.

In Houston, Texas, David Tuck attacked and sexually assaulted a Hispanic teenager with a pipe in April 2006. Tuck shouted “white power," raised his hand in a Nazi salute and yelled racial slurs during the attack.

Minucci was convicted of a hate crime. Wyoming, where Shepard was murdered, does not have a hate-crime statute. Houston authorities did not charge Tuck with a hate crime because the charges against him already carried a life sentence.

In many cases, hate may be seen or perceived to be the motivation for a crime, but criminals may not be charged with a hate crime for a variety of reasons — many of the same reasons that the debate on hate-crime laws continues in this country.

Other major questions in the debate includes the question for this week's poll:

Is it possible to determine without a doubt the motive behind a person's criminal acts?

1) Yes, based on what they say while planning or committing the crime.
2) No. It's impossible to know for sure what motivates a criminal act.
3) Undecided.

Source: National Institute of Justice

_{Photo Credit - David Tuck - Mug Shot}