ASC Proposal 2007
other policy makers create laws in reaction to increases of bias-motivated behavior (p. 168).
However, this theory is problematic due to the inconsistency of jurisdictions enacting such
legislation. For example, the state of Wyoming does not have a hate crime statute, even though it
experienced a widely publicized murder of a young gay college student, Mathew Shephard, in
the late 1990s.
The interest group model, however, “…envisions the policy process as a competition
between differentially empowered groups of actors who define a problem, dramatize its
importance, and promote solutions to remedy it” (p. 170). Interest groups have varying political
and organizational power, thus the group to maintain the public’s and the media’s attention is
more likely to see their efforts result in new legislation. This argument is useful in explaining
how certain groups have been recognized within hate crime legislation as a protected status.
Because the general public accepts some interest groups intentions more willingly than others
(e.g. religious organizations versus gay and lesbian advocates), they are more likely to receive
acknowledgement in the policy-making arena. This holds true in hate crime legislation;
religious-bias is included in most states’ statutes, whereas sexual orientation is oftentimes not.
Finally, the authors argue that political context, or the political environment, is the most
important means in which social issues are recognized as potential policy items. According to
Jenness and Grattet (2001), “These arguments emphasize the importance of political parties in
creating opportunities for issues to get placed on the policy making agenda” (p. 173). As the
authors explain, the legal culture and policy making traditions of a jurisdiction provide resources
for which interest groups and policy makers can frame issues so that their proposals are accepted
(p. 174). Furthermore, subsequent adoption of a policy in other jurisdictions becomes an act of
conformity by the legislature once an issue becomes institutionalized as a social problem (p.
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Convention