The motivation for hate crime are very much similar to the the motivation for other crimes to the extent that both are motivated by emotions like greed, jealousy, fear, and false sense of pride. The difference is only in the way these negative feelings are aroused and the person against whom the crime is directed.
In other kinds of crime the negative emotions are directed specifically towards the victim of the crime, and the person expects to gain directly by hurting the victim. But in case the negative feelings are not directed against a specific person but against a whole group to which the victim belongs, and the pay off from the crime are expected to be in the form of damaging and weakening the whole group in the long run. Thus a person who targets a person from a particular community for robbery is committing a crime of robbery, rather than a hate crime.
Also it is important to note that the hate in hate crimes is the result of prejudices and stereotypes. To begin with the assumptions or beliefs held about a community may or may not be correct. Even when correct these may be highly exaggerated. Then the difference that do exist may be really harmless. Finally, the particular victim of a hate crime may or may not posses the presumably offending trait supposed to be possessed by the whole group.
One motivation for hate crime that makes it particularly difficult to control it is the hate crimes committed in retaliation. This starts a long chain of attacks and counter attacks between different groups.
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