Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Criminal Law and the Routine Activity of ‘Hate Crime’

  • Published:
Liverpool Law Review Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

If our knowledge about so called ‘hate crime’ was confined to what we read in the national newspapers or see on the television news then the impression that we would be most likely left with is that hate crime offenders are out-and-out bigots, hate-fuelled individuals who subscribe to racist, homophobic, and other bigoted views who, in exercising their extreme hatred target their victims in premeditated violent attacks. Whilst many such attacks have occurred, the data on incidents, albeit limited, suggests instead that they are commonly committed by ‘ordinary’ people in the context of their ‘everyday’ lives. Considering the everyday circumstances in which incidents occur, this paper argues that by imposing penalty enhancement for ‘hate crime’ the criminal law assumes a significant symbolic role as a cue against transgression on the part of potential offenders.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Allport (1954/1979).

  2. Allport (p. 363).

  3. Gordon (1986, p. 8).

  4. See ‘Two face 30 years in jail for homophobic murder’, The Times, 13th May 2006.

  5. See ‘Men jailed for gay barman murder’ BBC News, 16th June 2006: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/5087286.stm

  6. Felson (2002, pp. 1–3).

  7. Jenness and Grattet (2001).

  8. Iganski et al. (2005).

  9. Iganski et al. (2005, p. 115).

  10. Felson (2002, p. 35).

  11. Ibid. (p. 37).

  12. Ibid. (p. 40).

  13. Ibid. (p. 24).

  14. Ibid. (p. 24).

  15. Felson (2002, pp. 44–50).

  16. Commission on British Muslims and Islamophobia Islamophobia, Issues, Challenges and Action, (Stoke-on-Trent: Trentham Books, 2004).

  17. Iganski et al. (2005, pp. 58–61).

  18. See ‘Hate crimes soar after London Bombings’ BBC News, news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4740015.stm.

  19. See ‘London after 7/7: capital of hate?’ The Met’s new stats were said to show an explosion in faith hate crimes. Actually, they showed the opposite. Josie Appleton http://www.spiked-online.com/Printable/0000000CACE6.htm, 5th August 2005.

  20. See http://lewishamlistens.com/archives/pdf/TEL050101030_1.pdf

  21. See http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/Politics/documents/2005/07/26/Muslim-Poll.pdf

  22. Bowling (1998, p. 7).

  23. Sibbitt (1997).

  24. Chahal and Julienne (1999, p. vi).

  25. Chahal and Julienne (1999, p. 37).

  26. Goodall et al. (2004).

  27. Goodall (2004, para. 2.25, p. 10).

  28. Shamash and Hodgkins (2007).

  29. Ibid. (pp. 25–27).

  30. Ibid. (p. 19).

  31. MIND (2007, p. 6).

  32. MIND (2007, p. 7).

  33. Disability Rights Commission and Capability Scotland (2004, p. 13).

  34. Ibid. (p. 17).

  35. Ibid. (pp. 19–20).

  36. Jarman and Tennant (2003).

  37. Stonewall (1996).

  38. Jarman and Tennant (2003, pp. 37–55).

  39. Moran et al. (2004, p. 44).

  40. Moran (2007, p. 85).

  41. Moran (2007, p. 92).

  42. Mason (2005, p. 838).

  43. Mason (2005, p. 858).

  44. Felson (2002, p. 6).

  45. Sibbitt (1997, p. vii).

  46. Sibbitt (1997, p. 101).

  47. Perry (2001).

  48. Cf. Gramsci (1971).

  49. Garland (2001, p. 9).

  50. von Hirsch et al. (1999, p. 1).

  51. Perry (2001, p. 179).

  52. Iganski (1999, pp. 386–395).

  53. Macpherson (1999). On the response by the MPS see Hall (2005, pp. 171–172).

  54. Dixon and Gadd (2006, p. 316).

  55. Dixon and Gadd (2006, p. 317).

  56. On this point see also Hemmerman et al. (2007).

  57. Burney and Rose (2002, p. 116).

  58. Ibid. (p. 115).

  59. Ibid. (p. 115).

  60. See Iganski Hate crime and the City, Chap. 1.

  61. Lawrence (1994, pp. 320–381).

References

  • Allport, G.W. 1954/1979. The nature of prejudice. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.

  • Anon. 2005. Hate crimes soar after London Bombings. BBC News, news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4740015.stm.

  • Anon. 2006a. Two face 30 years in jail for homophobic murder. The Times, 13th May.

  • Anon. 2006b. Men jailed for gay barman murder. BBC News, 16th June. http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/5087286.stm

  • Appleton, J. 2005. London after 7/7: capital of hate? The Met’s new stats were said to show an explosion in faith hate crimes. Actually, they showed the opposite. http://www.spiked-online.com/Printable/0000000CACE6.htm, 5th August.

  • Bowling, B. 1998. Violent racism. Victimization, policing and social context. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burney, E., and G. Rose. 2002. Racist offences: How is the law working? Home office research study 244. London: Home Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chahal, K., and L. Julienne. 1999. “We can’t all be white!” Racist victimisation in the UK. York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Commission on British Muslims and Islamophobia. 2004. Islamophobia, issues, challenges and action. Stoke-on-Trent: Trentham Books.

  • Disability Rights Commission and Capability Scotland. 2004. Hate crime against disabled people in Scotland: A survey report. London: Disability Rights Commission.

  • Dixon, J., and D. Gadd. 2006. Getting the message? “New” labour and the criminalization of “hate”. Criminology and Criminal Justice 6: 309–328.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Felson, M. 2002. Crime and everyday life, 3rd ed. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garland, D. 2001. The culture of control. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gordon, P. 1986. Racial violence and harassment. London: Runnymede Trust.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goodall, K., R. Choudri, R. Barbour, and S. Hilton. 2004. The policing of racist incidents in Strathclyde. Glasgow: University of Glasgow.

  • Gramsci, A. 1971. Selections from the prison notebooks of Antonio Gramsci (ed. and trans: Hoare, Q., and G. Nowell Smith). London: Lawrence and Wishart.

  • Hall, N. 2005. Hate crime. Cullompton: Willan Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hemmerman, L., I. Law, J. Simms, and A. Sirriyeh. 2007. Situating racist hostility and understanding the impact of racist victimisation in East Leeds: Evidence from fieldwork in Halton Moor and Osmondthorpe. Leeds: Centre for Ethnicity & Racism Studies, School of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Leeds.

    Google Scholar 

  • Iganski, P. 1999. Why make “hate” a crime? Critical Social Policy 19: 386–395.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Iganski, P. 2008. ‘Hate crime’ and the city. Bristol: Policy Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Iganski, P., V. Kielinger, and S. Paterson. 2005. Hate crimes against London’s Jews. London: Institute for Jewish Policy Research.

  • Jarman, N., and A. Tennant. 2003. An acceptable prejudice? Homophobic violence and harassment in Northern Ireland. Belfast: Institute for Conflict Research.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jenness, V., and R. Grattet. 2001. Making hate a crime. From social movement to law enforcement. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lawrence, F.M. 1994. The punishment of hate: towards a normative theory of bias-motivated crimes. Michigan Law Review 93: 320–381.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Macpherson, Sir W. 1999. The Stephen Lawrence inquiry. London: HMSO.

  • Mason, G. 2005. Hate crime and the image of the stranger. British Journal of Criminology 45: 838–859.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • MIND. 2007. Another assault. London: MIND.

  • Moran, L.J. 2007. Homophobic violence in London: challenging assumptions about strangers, dangers and safety in the city. In Law and the City, ed. A. Philippopoulos-Mihalopoulos, 77–97. Abingdon: Routledge-Cavendish.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moran, L.J., S. Paterson, and T. Docherty. 2004. Count me in. A Report on the Bexley and Greenwich homophobic crime survey. London: Galop.

    Google Scholar 

  • Perry, B. 2001. In the name of hate. New York, NY: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shamash, M., and S.L. Hodgkins. 2007. Disability hate crime report. London: DIOT – Disability Information Training Opportunity.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sibbitt, R. 1997. The perpetrators of racial harassment and racial violence, research study 176. London: Home Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stonewall. 1996. Queer bashing. London: Stonewall.

  • von Hirsch, A., A. Bottoms, E. Burney, and P. Wikstrom. 1999. Criminal deterrence and sentencing severity. London: Hart.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Applied Social Science, Lancaster University, Bowland North, Lancaster, LA1 4YT, UK

    Paul Iganski

Authors
  1. Paul Iganski
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Paul Iganski.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Iganski, P. Criminal Law and the Routine Activity of ‘Hate Crime’. Liverpool Law Rev 29, 1–17 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10991-008-9033-x

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10991-008-9033-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation