Making Hate A Crime

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

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 crime is a particularly pernicious form of criminal behaviour that has significant impacts upon victims, their families and wider communities. In this substantially revised and updated edition the book examines the nature, extent and harms of hate crime, and the effectiveness of criminal justice responses to it. It covers racist, religiously motivated, homophobic, disablist and transphobic hate crime, as well as other forms of targeted victimisation such as gendered hostility, elder abuse, attacks upon alternative subcultures and violence against sex workers and the homeless. The book also assesses the complexities and controversies surrounding hate crime legislation and policy-making, as well as the continuing challenges associated with the policing of hate. The second edition features expanded discussions of international perspectives and contemporary topics such as online hate and cyberbullying, as well as numerous case studies covering issues such as lone wolf extremists, Islamophobia, asylum seekers and the far right. The book contains a range of links to online material that accompany the extensive lists of further reading in each chapter.

The Fourth Edition of Hate Crimes: Causes, Controls, and Controversies by Phyllis B. Gerstenfeld takes a multidisciplinary approach that allows students to explore a broad scope of hate crimes. Drawing on recent developments, topics, and current research, this book examines the issues that foster hate crimes while demonstrating how these criminal acts impact individuals, as well as communities. Students are introduced to the issue through first-person vignettes—offering a more personalized account of both victims and perpetrators of hate crimes. Packed with the latest court cases, research, and statistics from a variety of scholarly sources, the Fourth Edition is one of the most comprehensive and accessible textbooks in the field.

This book examines how hate crime, as a contemporary legal concept, is introduced and represented in Turkish public discourse. The study addresses questions of how effective the hate crime debate in Turkey has been in identifying bias-motivated violent incidents and how social institutions perceive hate crimes and influence the related debates instigated by social movement actors. First of all, the study explores the movement against hate crime in Turkey, and argues that hate crime has operated as an umbrella term, diverting distinct identity movements into dialogue and collaboration, but has also created a partial collective identity. Thereafter, to grasp the repercussions of the emerging anti-hate crime movement in the public discourse, the book focuses on the media and parliament. Accordingly, media and the governing bodies, in both direct and indirect ways, are shown here to constitute an impediment to the recognition of bias and prejudices.

​​​​​​This Brief provides a clearly outlined and accessible overview of the challenges in creating and enforcing hate crime legislation in the United States. As the author explains, while it is generally not controversial that hate crime behavior should be stopped, the question of how to do so effectively is complex. This volume begins with an introduction about defining hate crimes, and the history of hate crimes and hate crime legislation in the United States. The author shows arguments in favor of hate crime statutes, for example: hate crimes reach beyond their victims to members of the victims’ protected group and cohesion of society at large, and should therefore carry higher penalties.The author also shows arguments against hate crime statutes, for example that they sometimes contain enhanced penalties for certain specially protected groups and not others, and have a high potential for ambiguity and uneven enforcement. From a law enforcement perspective, the author explores the practical challenges in enforcing these statutes, and solutions to address them. Investigative techniques and resources vary significantly across police departments, as does training to identify and distinguish hate crimes from ordinary crimes. There is high potential for law enforcement and prosecutors’ personal biases to effect the classification of crimes as hate crimes. Law enforcement organizations are constantly faced with the dilemma of what and how to enforce legislation. This brief will be relevant for researchers in criminology and criminal justice, policy makers involved in hate crime legislation, social justice, and police-community relations, as well as related fields such as sociology, public policy and demography.​

Misogyny as Hate Crime explores the background, nature and consequences of misogyny as well as the legal framework and UK policy responses associated with misogyny as a form of hate crime. Taking an intersectional approach, the book looks at how experiences of misogyny may intersect with other forms of hate crime such as disablism, Islamophobia, antisemitism and transphobia. From the sexist and derogatory comments about women by former US President Donald Trump, to legislative changes in Chile and Peru making street harassment illegal, misogyny presents a challenge to scholars, practitioners, policy makers, and women globally. The increasing importance of the internet has seen misogyny move into these digital spaces but has also provided a platform for movements such as #MeToo and #TimesUp, highlighting the scale of sexual harassment and abuse. In 2016, Nottinghamshire Police in partnership with Nottingham Women’s Centre became the first force in England and Wales to record misogyny as a hate crime. Since then other police forces have introduced similar schemes to tackle misogyny. More recently, the Law Commission of England and Wales has undertaken a review of the legislation on hate crime and in their consultation paper of proposals for reform have suggested ‘adding sex or gender to the protected characteristics’. In March 2021, the Government announced that police forces in England and Wales will be required to record crimes motivated by hostility based on sex or gender from this autumn. The murder of Sarah Everard has been a ‘watershed moment’ in the Government’s response to violence against women. Sarah Everard’s kidnap and murder who went missing while walking home from a friend’s flat in South London on 3 March 2021, ignited a national conversation about violence against women. Against this background, the book speaks both to the proposed reforms of the hate crime legislation around misogyny, and the broader issues around experiences of and legal responses to misogyny. It showcases the work of leading scholars in this area alongside that of activists and practitioners, whose work has been invaluable in opening up public discussion on misogynistic hate crime and encouraging wider social change. In recognising the intersections of different forms of prejudice, the book provides an innovative contribution to these ‘hate debates’, highlighting the complexities of creating separate strands of hate crime. Providing a comprehensive understanding of the debates around inclusion of misogyny as a form of hate crime, this ground-breaking book will be of great interest to students, scholars and activists interested in gender, hate crime, feminism, criminology, law, policing and sociology.

'Hate Crime is essential reading for researchers, students and practitioners seeking to understand this complex and contested subject. It is thoroughly researched and theoretically informed, but will be accessible to newcomers to the field and to people delivering practical responses to offending and victimisation. Clearly written and with case-study illustrations, Chakroborti and Garland bring this challenging subject to the reader in a vivid and readable form.' - Ben Bowling, Professor of Criminology, King’s College, London. This engaging and thought-provoking text provides an accessible introduction to the subject of hate crime. In a world where issues of hatred and prejudice are creating complex challenges for society and for governments, this book provides an articulate and insightful overview of how such issues relate to crime and criminal justice. It offers comprehensive coverage, including topics such as: " racist hate crime " religiously motivated hate crime " homophobic crime " gender and violence " disablist hate crime The book considers the challenges involved in policing hate crime, as well as exploring the role of the media. Legislative developments are discussed throughout. Chapter summaries, case studies, a glossary and advice on further reading all help to equip the reader with a clear understanding of this nuanced and controversial subject. Hate Crime is essential reading for students and academics in criminology and criminal justice.