Weekly News #18

Samuel Woodward

Blaze Bernstein, a 19 year old college sophomore, was visiting his family during a break when it's said he went out with his suspected murderer late at night on January 2nd; He was then not seen till his body was recovered from the park a week later. According to the Daily Mail, the teen had been stabbed 19 times, whilst other sources say he had been stabbed over 20 time. The suspect was arrested soon after Bernstein's body was recovered and has pleaded not guilty.

The 20 year old suspect, Samuel Woodward, went to the same high school as Bernstein although it hasn't been said they has any relationship at the time of the murder. Bernstein was gay and Jewish; traits that Woodward is said to despise. ProPublica, claims that Woodward is "an avowed neo-Nazi and a member of one of the most notorious extremist groups". ProPublica revealed Woodward to be part of the neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen Division; a group that has been tied to 5 murders over the past 8 months. It’s said Woodward joined the group in 2016, and having attended a training camp in Texas for three days.

Not too long ago, in Virginia, a 17 year old allegedly murdered his girlfriend's parent after they pushed for a breakup between the couple once discovering his neo-Nazi affiliations which he supposedly spread to their daughter. The teen also had suspect connections to the infamous group Atomwaffen Division. (News article)

The parents of Blaze Bernstein are certain that this murder was carried out from hatred, however the police have yet to decide if the incident is a hate crime. In 2016, (according to the FBI uniformed report) there was 6,121 reported hate crime incidents in America. From the 6,121 incidents there was 7,227 offenses committed, 7,615 victims, and only 5,770 known offenders. Of these incidents 58.5% were motivated from race/ethnicity/ancestry bias; 21.3% from religious bias; and 17.7% prompted from sexual orientation bias. However, in England and Wales, in 2016/2017, there was 80,393 reported hate crimes. 62,685 of these were race bias motivated; 5,949 religion bias prompted; and 9,157 sexual orientation bias motivated. Although these statistics show hate crime to be a problem in both area, they show the issue to be bigger in England and Wales.