CJE-3065 Chapter Notes - Chapter 6: Racial Hoax, Hate Crime, Bogeyman
25 Oct 2016
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The racial hoax is a cynical manipulation of our deepest fears about race and violence. In 1994, susan smith, a white mother in south carolina, told police that she had been the victim of a carjacking and described her assailant as a black male. 9 days later we learned that smith had fabricated the entire story. She had created the fictional bogeyman to shift attention away from herself. The large majority of hoaxes however, involve perpetuators and victims who are the same race. The interracial hoaxes involving blacks and whites are the most likely to be reported and the most likely to receive media attention. Racial hoaxes are devised, perpetrated, and successful precisely because they tap into widely held fears. As indicated in the table, the majority of hoaxes involved whites who falsely accused blacks of committing a crime. Police and judicial officials: many of the cases involve hoaxes committed by legal officials.
