This book provides a unique insight into the lived realities of hate crime in Ireland and its treatment within the criminal justice system. The significance of the Irish case is contextualised within the European and global policy contexts and an overview of hate crime in Ireland, both north and south, and its differential treatment in each jurisdiction’s criminal justice system is offered. Presenting empirically grounded analyses of the experiences of commonly targeted identity groups in an Irish context, this study also draws upon their exposure to hate crime and challenges encountered in seeking redress. Combining theory, research and practice, this book represents legal, social, cultural and political concerns pertinent to understanding, preventing, deterring and combatting hate crime across Ireland. It incorporates a variety of perspectives on the hate crime paradigm and addresses many of the cutting-edge debates arising in the field of hate studies. Contributions from Irish and international academic researchers are complemented by applied pieces authored by practitioners and policy makers actively engaged with affected communities. This is a progressive and informed text which will be of great value to activists, policy makers and scholars of hate crime and criminal justice.

Why do we know every gory crime scene detail about such victims as Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. and yet almost nothing about the vast majority of other hate crime victims? Now that federal anti-hate-crimes laws have been passed, why has the number of these crimes not declined significantly? To answer such questions, Clara S. Lewis challenges us to reconsider our understanding of hate crimes. In doing so, she raises startling issues about the trajectory of civil and minority rights. Tough on Hate is the first book to examine the cultural politics of hate crimes both within and beyond the law. Drawing on a wide range of sources—including personal interviews, unarchived documents, television news broadcasts, legislative debates, and presidential speeches—the book calls attention to a disturbing irony: the sympathetic attention paid to certain shocking hate crime murders further legitimizes an already pervasive unwillingness to act on the urgent civil rights issues of our time. Worse still, it reveals the widespread acceptance of ideas about difference, tolerance, and crime that work against future progress on behalf of historically marginalized communities.

Violent and sometimes fatal acts of racial hatred are drawing increasing attention around the nation. Asian American and Asian Canadian authors discuss the impacts of racial crime, exploring the relationship between the physical or verbal acts to issues of ethnic identity, civil rights of immigrants, Internet racism, sexual violence, language and violence, economic scapegoating, and police brutality. They offer suggestions for combating hate crime with coalition building and community resisatnce, as well as legal prosecution and police training. The compelling narratives are a valuable resource for courses in Asian American studies, race and ethnic studies, sociology, criminology, and for anyone who wants to understand racial violence in North America. Visit our website for sample chapters!

In the early 1980s, a new category of crime appeared in the criminal law lexicon. In response to concerted advocacy-group lobbying, Congress and many state legislatures passed a wave of "hate crime" laws requiring the collection of statistics on, and enhancing the punishment for, crimes motivated by certain prejudices. This book places the evolution of the hate crime concept in socio-legal perspective. James B. Jacobs and Kimberly Potter adopt a skeptical if not critical stance, maintaining that legal definitions of hate crime are riddled with ambiguity and subjectivity. No matter how hate crime is defined, and despite an apparent media consensus to the contrary, the authors find no evidence to support the claim that the United States is experiencing a hate crime epidemic--instead, they cast doubt on whether the number of hate crimes is even increasing. The authors further assert that, while the federal effort to establish a reliable hate crime accounting system has failed, data collected for this purpose have led to widespread misinterpretation of the state of intergroup relations in this country. The book contends that hate crime as a socio-legal category represents the elaboration of an identity politics now manifesting itself in many areas of the law. But the attempt to apply the anti-discrimination paradigm to criminal law generates problems and anomalies. For one thing, members of minority groups are frequently hate crime perpetrators. Moreover, the underlying conduct prohibited by hate crime law is already subject to criminal punishment. Jacobs and Potter question whether hate crimes are worse or more serious than similar crimes attributable to other anti-social motivations. They also argue that the effort to single out hate crime for greater punishment is, in effect, an effort to punish some offenders more seriously simply because of their beliefs, opinions, or values, thus implicating the First Amendment. Advancing a provocative argument in clear and persuasive terms, Jacobs and Potter show how the recriminalization of hate crime has little (if any) value with respect to law enforcement or criminal justice. Indeed, enforcement of such laws may exacerbate intergroup tensions rather than eradicate prejudice.

Policing Hatred explores the intersection of race and law enforcement in the controversial area of hate crime. The nation’s attention has recently been focused on high-profile hate crimes such as the dragging death of James Byrd and the torture-murder of Matthew Shepard. This book calls attention to the thousands of other individuals who each year are attacked because of their race, religion, or sexual orientation. The study of hate crimes challenges common assumptions regarding perpetrators and victims: most of the accused tend to be white, while most of their victims are not. Policing Hatred is an in-depth ethnographic study of how hate crime law works in practice, from the perspective of those enforcing it. It examines the ways in which the police handle bias crimes, and the social impact of those efforts. Bell exposes the power that law enforcement personnel have to influence the social environment by showing how they determine whether an incident will be charged as a bias crime. Drawing on her unprecedented access to a police hate crime unit, Bell’s work brings to life the stories of female, Black, Latino, and Asian American detectives, in addition to those of their white male counterparts. Policing Hatred also explores the impact of victim’s identity on each officers handling of bias crimes and addresses how the police treat defendants’ First Amendment rights. Bell’s vivid evidence from the field argues persuasively for the need to have the police diligently address even low-level offenses, such as vandalism, given their devastating cumulative effects on society.

Advancing Critical Criminology constitutes a timely addition to the growing body of knowledge on critical criminology scholarship. DeKeseredy and Perry have assembled a volume that provides scholars with an in-depth review of the extant literature on several major branches of criminology as well as examples of how critical criminologists apply their theoretical perspectives to substantive topics, such as drugs, interpersonal violence, and rural crime. Accordingly, this work is divided into two main sections: overviews of theories and applications. Each chapter provides a summary of work in a specific area, along with suggestions for moving the field forward. This reader is unique in its choice of topics, which have often been overlooked in the past. An expert collection of international scholars, Advancing Critical Criminology is certain to stimulate lively debates and generate further critical social scientific work in this field.

This edited collection brings together many of the world's leading experts, both academic and practitioner, in a single volume handbook that examines key international issues in the field of hate crime. Collectively it examines a range of pertinent areas with the ultimate aim of providing a detailed picture of the hate crime 'problem' in different parts of the world. The book is divided into four parts: An examination, covering theories and concepts, of issues relating to definitions of hate crime, the individual and community impacts of hate crime, the controversies of hate crime legislation, and theoretical approaches to understanding offending. An exploration of the international geography of hate, in which each chapter examines a range of hate crime issues in different parts of the world, including the UK, wider Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand. Reflections on a number of different perspectives across a range of key issues in hate crime, examining areas including particular issues affecting different victim groups, the increasingly important influence of the Internet, and hate crimes in sport. A discussion of a range of international efforts being utilised to combat hate and hate crime. Offering a strong international focus and comprehensive coverage of a wide range of hate crime issues, this book is an important contribution to hate crime studies and will be essential reading for academics, students and practitioners interested in this field.