Victims of hate crime

What is hate crime

• Descrimination

• Hate speech

• Terrorism

• Violence against

• Online hate

• Extremism

• Vigilantism

• Racism

• Homophobia

• No universally accepted definition of hate crime exists

• Hate crime is defined differently across context and jurisdictions

• Definitions are shaped by political, social and contextual factors. The term is often ambiguous, making empirical measurement difficult (White, 2002)

“Some, particularly lay-people, will understandably adopt a more literal interpretation in line with the more violent and extreme cases that make the news.

Scholars, meanwhile, tend to see hate crimes as a social construct with no straightforward meaning and offer a defining set of characteristics which they regard as central to their commission.

Practitioners are likely to pursue a much less complex view which requires few of the machinations evident within academic interpretations.” (Neil Chakraborti and Jon Garland 2012:500)

Broad vs Narrow views

• Academia: “acts of violence, hostility and intimidation directed towards people because of their identity or perceived difference” (Chakraborti and Jon Garland, 2015:5)

• Policy: “hate crimes are criminal offences committed with a bias motive” (OSCE, 2009)

Hate crime reporting

• Hate crime victims often come from communities that are marginalised, under-protected and over-policed

• Hate crimes are notoriously underreported eg. due to fear of retaliation, distrust of authorities, perceived ineffectiveness of reporting, lack of awareness, normalisation of hate, fear of public exposure, language barriers, and concerns about immigration status

• Dark figure pf hate crime is the difference

UK shared definition of hate crime

• UK policy definition shared between the police and CJS agencies since 2007

• A hate crime is any criminal offence which is perceived by the victim or any other person to be. otivatied by a hostility or prejudice based on

  • A persons rave or perceived race