Hate Crimes Revisited

Two leading experts on hate crime reassess the threat of violence based on difference--whether in sexual orientation, race, gender, ethnicity, or citizenship-- to help us better understand and ultimately prevent such acts from occurring in the future.

Violence motivated by racism, anti-Semitism, misogyny, and homophobia weaves a tragic pattern throughout American history. Fueled by recent high-profile cases, hate crimes have achieved an unprecedented visibility. Only in the past twenty years, however, has this kind of violence—itself as old as humankind—been specifically categorized and labeled as hate crime. Making Hate a Crime is the first book to trace the emergence and development of hate crime as a concept, illustrating how it has become institutionalized as a social fact and analyzing its policy implications. In Making Hate a Crime Valerie Jenness and Ryken Grattet show how the concept of hate crime emerged and evolved over time, as it traversed the arenas of American politics, legislatures, courts, and law enforcement. In the process, violence against people of color, immigrants, Jews, gays and lesbians, women, and persons with disabilities has come to be understood as hate crime, while violence against other vulnerable victims-octogenarians, union members, the elderly, and police officers, for example-has not. The authors reveal the crucial role social movements played in the early formulation of hate crime policy, as well as the way state and federal politicians defined the content of hate crime statutes, how judges determined the constitutional validity of those statutes, and how law enforcement has begun to distinguish between hate crime and other crime. Hate crime took on different meanings as it moved from social movement concept to law enforcement practice. As a result, it not only acquired a deeper jurisprudential foundation but its scope of application has been restricted in some ways and broadened in others. Making Hate a Crime reveals how our current understanding of hate crime is a mix of political and legal interpretations at work in the American policymaking process. Jenness and Grattet provide an insightful examination of the birth of a new category in criminal justice: hate crime. Their findings have implications for emerging social problems such as school violence, television-induced violence, elder-abuse, as well as older ones like drunk driving, stalking, and sexual harassment. Making Hate a Crime presents a fresh perspective on how social problems and the policies devised in response develop over time. A Volume in the American Sociological Association's Rose Series in Sociology

Hate crimes can take many forms. Assaulting someone, vandalizing their property, or simply making them feel threatened are all considered hate crimes when they are motivated by animosity for a particular group. Readers learn that these offenses often take place because the perpetrator has a fundamental misunderstanding or fear of the people in that targeted group. Informative charts and discussion questions for each chapter encourage readers to think critically about the way people’s biases can dictate their behavior in ways that harm others.

In 2015, approximately 5,818 hate crime incidents were reported, and 59.2 percent of those reported hate crimes were race or ethnicity based. Hate crimes fall under federal jurisdiction and can include gender identity bias, disability bias, gender bias, sexual orientation bias, religious bias, and race or ethnicity bias. According to the FBI, fighting hate crimes is a number one priority under the civil rights program. This thought-provoking resource investigates and analyzes issues surrounding hate crimes. A thorough and balanced examination of related topics such as the scope of hate crimes, the types of perpetrators, and how to fight hate crimes provides readers with an expansive view of the issue at hand.

Hate crime has become an increasingly familiar term in recent times as problems of bigotry and prejudice continue to pose complex challenges for societies across the world. Although greater recognition is now afforded to hate crimes and their associated harms, the problem is still widespread and many key questions remain unanswered. Are we doing enough to protect vulnerable members of society? Are we doing enough to address the offending behaviour of hate crime perpetrators? Are there better ways of understanding and responding to hate crime? This book brings together contributions from leading experts in the field to address these and other contested issues in this fascinating and often controversial subject area. Drawing upon innovative work being undertaken nationally and internationally, the book offers fresh ideas on hate crime scholarship and policy and in so doing enables readers to re-evaluate the concept of hate crime in the light of fresh research, theory and policy. It provides much-needed ways of taking the ‘hate debate’ forward as well as offering practical suggestions for developing both scholarship and policy in a more progressive manner.

This ebook is a selective guide designed to help scholars and students of criminology find reliable sources of information by directing them to the best available scholarly materials in whatever form or format they appear from books, chapters, and journal articles to online archives, electronic data sets, and blogs. Written by a leading international authority on the subject, the ebook provides bibliographic information supported by direct recommendations about which sources to consult and editorial commentary to make it clear how the cited sources are interrelated related. A reader will discover, for instance, the most reliable introductions and overviews to the topic, and the most important publications on various areas of scholarly interest within this topic. In criminology, as in other disciplines, researchers at all levels are drowning in potentially useful scholarly information, and this guide has been created as a tool for cutting through that material to find the exact source you need. This ebook is a static version of an article from Oxford Bibliographies Online: Criminology, a dynamic, continuously updated, online resource designed to provide authoritative guidance through scholarship and other materials relevant to the study and practice of criminology. Oxford Bibliographies Online covers most subject disciplines within the social science and humanities, for more information visit www.aboutobo.com.

This book offers a comprehensive approach to understanding hate crime, its causes, consequences, prevention, and prosecution. Hate crimes continue to be a pervasive problem in the United States. The murder of Matthew Shepard, the lynching of James Byrd, the murderous rampage of Benjamin Smith, and anti-Muslim violence remind us that incidence of deadly bigotry is not only a recurring chapter in U.S. history, but also a part of our present-day world. Contrary to common belief, hate mongers who commit crimes are rarely members of the Ku Klux Klan or a skinhead group. In fact, fewer than 5 percent of identifiable offenders are members of organized hate groups. Yet rather than being an individual crime, hate crime represents an assault against all members of stigmatized and marginalized communities. To fully understand the phenomenon of hate crime and reduce its incidence, it is necessary to clearly define the term itself, to examine the victims and the offenders, and to evaluate the consequences and harms of hate crimes. This comprehensive five-volume set carefully addresses the disturbing variety and incidence of hate crimes, exposing their impacts on the broader realms of crime, punishment, individual communities, and society. The contributing authors and editors pay critical attention to cutting-edge topics such as online hate crimes, hate-based music, anti-Latino hostilities, Islamaphobia, hate crimes in the War on Terror, school-based anti-hate initiatives, and more. The final volume of Hate Crimes provides valuable food for thought on possible legislative, educational, social policy, or community organizational responses to the varied forms of hate crime.

Hate crime is a disturbing phenomenon that is the subject of constant debate, discussion, and legislation. This book helps readers understand the complex issue and see how the government and activists are proactively combating hate crime. With the first two editions widely praised by reviewers, Hate Crimes: A Reference Handbook, Third Edition remains the most comprehensive reference source on bias-motivated violence committed in the United States. The book contains vital history on hate crime legislation, provides a detailed chronology of recent events, and offers the most up-to-date information on its prevalence and the affected religious, racial, and other targeted communities, such as Jewish Americans and Sikh Americans. Dozens of expert contributors—such as Kenneth L. Marcus, president and general counsel of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law—present a balanced range of perspectives on the growing phenomenon, enabling readers to fully comprehend the widespread problem and develop their own informed opinion. Written in an accessible style suited to high school and undergraduate-level students as well as general readers, this book provides an essential, current, and easy-to-read ready reference on the timely and evolving issue of hate crime in the United States. The material provides an introductory overview of the topic of hate crime as well as insightful discussion of specific subjects, such as U.S. Supreme Court decisions and federal and state legislation regarding hate crimes, the incidence of hate crimes committed on America's college campuses, and governmental and citizen efforts to combat this disturbing phenomenon.