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Hate Crime Literature Review: (Reporting of Hate (Loss in Faith in the…
Hate Crime Literature Review:
What is a Hate Crime?
Legal Definition: "Hate Crime is defined as 'any criminal offence which is perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by hostility or prejudice towards someone based on a personal characteristic' "
5 centrally monitored strands of hate crime
Religion or Beliefs
Sexual Orientation
Disability
Transgender Identity
Race
"Race was most commonly cited by respondents as being the reason for why they had been targeted (33%). Dress and appearance emerged as a significant contributing factor for 21% of respondents"
University of Leicester (pg. 25) It became apparent from the interviews that victims are often targeted not because of just one aspect of their identity, but rather because of multiple factors such as visual identity markers or finding themselves in high risk situational context. e.g. religious markers (veil/turban)
Academic Definitions: (Hall. 2013)
"An illegal act involving intentional selection of a victim based on a perpetrators bias or prejudice against the actual or perceived status of the victim" (Craig. 2002)
"Violence directed towards groups of people who generally are not valued by the majority society, who suffer discrimination in other arenas, and who do not have full access to remedy social, political and economic injustice" (Wolfe and Copeland. 1994)
"Hate Crimes are criminal offences motivated either entirely or in part by the fact or perception that a victim is different from the perpetrator" Levin and McDevitt (2008) in Fischer (2018)
Hate Crimes are based on stereotypes, prejudice, or extreme negative sentiments about certain groups and generally also targeted at visible social groups, such as Blacks, Jews, Native Americans, or homeless people.
Challenges faced with definitions:
Crime is socially constructed and means different things to different people, different things at different times, and what constitutes a crime in one place may not in another.
Cultural differences, social norms and political interests play a large role in defining hate crimes, but also makes it impossible for a global consensus on what constitutes a hate crime. (Boeckmann and Turpin- Petrosino. 2002)
University of Leicester pg 63: Small proportion knew what a Hate Crime was and barely anyone had any knowledge of existing Hate Crime Laws
The use of criminal law against the infliction of Hate Crime throws into context the rights of offenders to freedom of expression, against the rights of victims to protection against discrimination.
To uphold social cohesion requires minimal social tension between people, with Hate Crimes comes social pressures to sanction those who violate the equally cherished value of social equality. (Boeckmann and Turpin-Petrosino. 2002)
Potter (1998) suggests, if everyone holds some form of prejudice then potentially every crime committed by one group against another could be labelled as a hate crime
Some form of prejudice on the part of the offender motivates all crime, not every crime is a hate crime
Indicating that some prejudices must necessarily be socially and officially less acceptable then others
Which prejudices turn ordinary crimes into hate crimes?
Hate Crimes are often described as 'message crimes' designed to intimidate not only the victim but also their family and even the broader community they are perceived to belong to. (University of Leicester. pg 46)
"Hate Crime is a reminder for the victim of their place in society marked out by prevailing structures of dominance" (Iganski, P. 2008)
The goal of Hate Crimes is to communicate a certain message to the group that the haters want to terrify or eliminate.
Hate has been considered an emotional attitude, a syndrome, a form of generalised anger, a generalised evaluation, a normative judgement, a motive to devalue others. (Fischer, et al. 2018)
Hate at the intergroup level requires a clear distinction between the ingroup and the outgroup, and is facilitated by the perception that the outgroup is a rather homogenous entity.
Hate can lead to actual attempts to eradicate the outgroup, in some situations there is a connection between hate and in various active political manifestations, such as outgroup exclusionism, terrorism, the motivation to fight and kill in battle and Hate Crimes
Hate is categorised by appraisals that imply a stable perception of a person or group and thus the incapability to change the extremely negative characteristics attributed to the target of hate
Hatred as the desire to harm humiliate, or even kills its object- not always instrumentally, but rather to cause harm as a vengeful objective in itself.
Hatred is a hostile feeling directed towards another person or group that consists of malice, repugnance, and willingness to harm and even annihilate the object of hatred.
Hate is so powerful that it does, not just temporarily but permanently, destroy relations between individuals or groups.
Hatred is an emotion that requires more time to evolve, but once it happens it takes much longer to dissolve, and it will always leave scars.
Prejudice and Hatred
Alport (1954) Prejudice is normal and rational human behaviour, by our need to organise all the cognitive data out brain received through the formation of generalisations, concepts and categories.
When we categories, we think of things in terms of groups, rather than unique individual entities, and we assume that these categories are informative and salient.
Alport suggests that to further simplify our lives, human beings naturally homogenise, often for no reason than convenience, which in turn creates separateness amongst groups, humans tend to relate to other humans with similar presuppositions for comfort, ease and congeniality. People stay separate have fewer channels of communication are likely to exaggerate and misunderstanding and the differences between groups and develop genuine and imaginary conflicts of interests.
Durkheim (1964) suggests pre-modern societies were cohesive because individuals were alike.
Revolution of modern society now means social dynamics have changed rapidly and radically. Changes in societal dynamics caused confusion and a breakdown in societal norms creating opportunities for an increase in deviant behaviour including Hate Crimes. (Reeskens, T. 2008)
Alport's Scale of Discrimination
Prejudice can be powerfully expressed through language (as well as stereotypes, attitudes etc.
Prejudice arises in an intergroup context, often as a product of conflicting goals or demands.
There are several powerful bases of prejudice. When certain values are regarded as important, prejudices directed towards groups that are perceived to challenge or undermine those values.
Membership of a social category can generate biased perceptions and attitudes leading to the formation of stereotypes and thereby creating the potential for discrimination by reinforcing differences between groups.
Prejudice is amendable to social and self-control, both of which can either increase or inhibit prejudice depending on issues of context;
Differences
Perry (2001) states that differences gas been constructed in negative relational terms. A dominant norm has been established, against which all others are unfavourably judged. Those who do not fit the mythical norm are perceived as different with the notion of 'difference'
Thus, we are left with a hierarchical structure of power in society based upon the notion of 'difference', with the mythical norm at the top and those who 'different' assigned subordinate positions.
Strain Theory:
Hate Crimes are committed by people in response to a perceived instability (or strain) in their lives
Increased competition for jobs and other scarce resources caused by foreigners exploitation and marginalisation, and people's economic security being threatened by 'outsiders'
Strain Theory- Hate Crime is a way of responding to threats to the legitimate means of achieving societies prescribed goals
Minority groups therefore serve to increase the perceptions strain that the majority population feel, and hate crime is a product of, and a response to, that strain.
Levin and McDevitt (2008) in Fishcer (2018)
Four Types of Hate Crime- based on offenders motivation
Thrill
Thrill seeking (mostly by teenagers)
Defence
Based on anger and fear, and is considered a strategy to defend a way of living against intruders
Retaliation
Involves actual hate and is seen as an act of revenge against previous hate crime of terrorist attacks
Mission
Less frequent and is defined by the fact that the perpetrator is on a moral mission to destroy outgroup members who are not considered human
Night-Time Economy
Night Time Economic activity has risen dramatically over the last 30 years due to the increased in the number of licensed premises
Statistics:
1.26 Million jobs overall exist because of the Night Time Economy
£40.1 Billion is the Gross Value added by the Night Time Economy
97,125 people are employed in the hotels and restaurant industry
Striking symbol of immigration to Britain being within the restaurant industry
107,136 people are employed in the transport and storage sector
Low start up costs to become a Taxi Driver, attracts large numbers of people from migrant communities. (Burnett. 2011)
Policy Exchange (2017) Taxi Drivers are one of the most ethnically diverse occupations in Britain with 53.1% from minority ethnic groups.
Reference:
https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/culture_and_night-time_economy_spg_final.pdf
Discriminated from mainstream employment with large scale enterprises, migrants and asylum seekers had no option than to turn to alternative employment within the Night Time Economy, such as Taxi's, restaurants and takeaways. (Burnett. 2013)
Workers frequently un-unionised and working alone, bear the brunt of alcohol-fuelled violence
Strain Theory- Employment Threat
Racial violence carried out on those who work within the Night Time Economy, these industries include takeaways, fast food outlets, taxi firms, convenience stores and service stations- whom are often staffed from black and minority ethnic communities
"Those who work within the Night Time Economy frequently experience fraught and difficult situations when dealing with drunk and abusive customers, with many Taxi Drivers and Restaurant Workers/Takeaway Owners feeling especially prone to being harassed while carrying out their jobs" pg 32 University of Leicester
7% of Hate Crime occurs in or around a bar, pub or nightclub (University of Leicester.)
Reporting of Hate
53% of Hate Crime Incidents came to the attention of the Police
The greater the impact the Hate Crime had on the respondent at the time, the more likely they were to have reported it to the Police. (University of Leicester. pg.67)
"Experiences of cumulative harms of the more 'ordinary' abuse, bullying and harassment go unacknowledged" (University of Leicester)
Only 1 in 4 Victims had reported their most recent Hate Crime experience to the Police :
Hate Crime victimisation had become a routine feature of everyday life for many participants, and particularly those who felt cut-off from 'mainstream' society. (University of Leicester)
Loss in Faith in the Criminal Justice System
Third of respondents who reported a Hate Crime to the Police did not feel that the Police had recorded it as such
51% of Hate Crime Victims were very or fairly satisfied the handling of the matter
Hate Crime victims were also more likely to be very dissatisfied (25%) with the Police handling of the matter
Few respondents have had any experience of seeing their offenders brought to justice through the court system
Victims of Hate Crime were less likely to think the Police had treated them fairly or with respect, compared with other crimes.
Verbal Abuse
Men are more likely than women to have experienced verbal abuse
Least likely to have reported the crime to the Police (16%)
"Verbal abuse emerged as the form of Hate Crime most likely to have been experienced by respondents" (University of Leicester)
In 2017/2018 there were 94,098 Hate Crime Offences recorded by Police, an increase of 17% compared with the previous year
Number of Hate Crimes recorded by the Police has doubled since 2012/2013 from (42,255 to 94,098)
Spikes in Hate Crime following EU referendum and the Terrorist Attacks in 2017
Crime Survey England and Wales estimates that there were around 184,000 incidents of Hate Crime a year
When individuals experience hate, they typically perceive their hate target as having malicious intentions and being immoral, which is accompanied by feelings of lack of control or powerlessness. (Fischer et al. 2018)
Individuals may report hate if appraising an event as contradicting their goals and interests (relevant to all negative emotions), perceiving the other's behaviour as unjustified and unfair
Effects of Hate Crime
Victims of Hate Crimes were more likely to report being affected by the incident. 36% of Hate Crime victims said they were 'very much' affected.
4% of all adults were 'very' worried about being subject to a physical attack because of their skin colour, ethnic origin or religion.
More than twice as many Hate Crime victims said they had suffered a loss of confidence or had felt vulnerable after the incident.
Hate Crime victims were also more than twice as likely to experience fear, difficulty sleeping, anxiety of panic attacks or depression compared with victims of overall CSEW crimes
An important feature of Hate Crimes is that the victims generally have not done anything specific: they are terrorised for who they are, not for what they have done.
This makes the victims feel powerless and unable to control the situation because changing their behaviour would not help.