Palgrave Hate Studies

This book uniquely combines a critical examination of the extent and diversity of transphobic hate crime together with a consideration of the victims and offenders. Trans people are marginalised in society and already negotiate complex physical and emotional challenges in order to live authentically in accordance with their self-identified gender presentation. Transphobic hate crime has devastating consequences both for the victim and trans people more generally by reinforcing the female/male binary and punishing gender non-conformity. In this thought-provoking study Jamel examines the history, extent, nature, and victim-offender relationship regarding these crimes whilst also considering the obstacles which affect legislation and policy-making decisions in response to hate crimes against trans people. The concept of a single transgender community is also critiqued in this book by exploring the diversity of trans identities cross-culturally. This original and timely book provides students, academics and those developing an interest in the topic with an understanding of the complexities of transphobic hate crime within the wider context of gender studies and critical criminology.

This book draws upon empirical data to offer a fresh and unique perspective on hate crime victimisation, using transphobic hate crime as a case study. It adopts the lens of ‘visibility’ as a way of understanding hate crime victimisation and to challenge dominant theoretical and conceptual perspectives of hate crime. In adopting this lens, key aspects of victimisation are explored, including the hierarchical nature of hate crime victimisation that afford visibility to particular types of victimisation and to particular groups of people to make them ‘legitimate’ victims. In challenging these notions, this book highlights the pervasive, everyday nature of much hate crime and introduces the concept of ‘micro-crimes’ as a way to conceptualise the nature of victimisation that is often overshadowed by discussions around ‘microaggressions’ and more socially recognisable forms of ‘hate crime’. Key ideas relating to space, place and identity performance are drawn upon throughout these analyses and discussions to provide a nuanced overview and conceptualisation of hate crime victimisation.

This book brings together literature, empirical research findings from two projects, and policy analysis to examine how some forces in England have adopted the approach of treating crimes against sex workers as hate crimes. This book identifies some of the benefits of the hate crime approach to crimes against sex workers, both operationally and for some of the victims of crime. The authors argue that the hate crime approach should not be seen as an alternative to decriminalisation of sex work but can provide a pathway to achieving more sensitive but robust policing of crimes against sex workers and support in accessing justice through the criminal justice system. They also examine the broader context of hate crime policy and scholarship as they debate the relevance, problems and merits of the sex work hate crime model. The book provides another dimension to current theoretical and policy debates about widening definitions and law around hate crime to include other groups beyond existing protected characteristics.

This book is the first collection of scholarship featuring both Canadian and American scholarship on the resurgent right-wing extremist movement in the two countries. It is particularly timely given the recent rise in political populism that has engendered renewed activism from extreme right contingents. Trump’s right-wing populist and white nationalist political campaign has galvanized Canadian and American white supremacist ideologies, identities, movements and practices. Leading Canadian and American scholars are brought together to explore a contemporary array of current dynamics, patterns and characteristics associated with the movement in each country. Split into four sections, it provides an introduction to extremism in the 21st century, it examines studying extremism, forms of extremist activity and violence, and the responses. The collection allows comparisons to be drawn out from the distinct treatments of each country. It speaks to students as well as scholars in social sciences departments, including criminology, sociology, social justice, and terrorism, peace and security studies, and political-violence related programs. 

This book presents the first academic study offering a holistic assessment of violence against women (VAW) in Scotland, both online and offline. In particular, it focuses on VAW, hate crime, and online forms of violence against women (OVAW). It critically assesses the gaps in the hate crime protections in Scots Law, focusing specifically on the absence of legal protections for VAW, OVAW, hate crime, and gender-based violence, and it includes international comparisons throughout. Given the current upsurge in the abuse of women, this book offers a holistic assessment of the phenomenon of VAW and makes the case for pressing law reform in Scotland, specifically for legal protections against VAW and OVAW to be included within Scots Law. The book contains not only research findings but also makes practical recommendations for law and policy reform in the areas of hate crime, VAW and OVAW. As such, it contributes to Scotland’s progressive and leading approach to tackling violence against women and girls.

This book presents both a new theoretical framework for the criminalisation of hate, referred to as “law as social justice liberalism”, and a comprehensive analysis of hate crime laws that have been enacted globally. The book begins by reflecting back on 30 years of theorisation on hate crime laws, arguing that there has been a failure to adequately capture the distinct harms of hate-based criminal conduct within legal frameworks. The book posits that liberal societies interested in advancing social equality ought to expand conventional paradigms of harm used in criminal law by comprehending hate-based conduct as a form of social injustice. Drawing on the work of Iris Young, the book sets out a comprehensive analysis of the harms of hate crime as a form of group-based oppression and uses this to set out criteria for the inclusion of protected characteristics under legislation.

The second half of the book presents findings from a comparative study of hate crime laws enacted in 190 different legal jurisdictions. This includes a new taxonomy of types, models and legal tests used by legislatures to capture the myriad forms of hate-based criminal conduct that occur globally. Further evaluation of case law and empirical research on the application of these diverging legislative approaches is used to provide recommendations on how legislators ought to construct hate crime laws. The book completes its analysis of law as social justice liberalism by synthesising law, punishment and restorative justice as a means of ensuring that liberal systems of “justice” are more firmly anchored to the advancement of “social justice”.

This book examines disability hate crime. It focusses on key questions concerning the ways in which hate is understood and experienced within the context of the everyday, in addition to the unique ways that hate can hurt and be resisted. It introduces readers to questions surrounding the conceptual framework of hate and policy context in England and Wales, and extends these discussions to center upon the experiences of disabled people. It presents a conceptual reconsideration of hate crime that connects hate, disability and everyday lives and spaces using an affective (embodied and emotional) understanding of these experiences. Drawing on empirical data, this framework helps to attend to the diverse ways that disabled people negotiate, respond to, and resist hate within the context of their everyday lives. The book argues that the affective capacity of disabled people can be enhanced through their reflections upon hateful experiences and general experiences of navigating a disabling social world. By working with the concept of ‘affective possibility’, this book offers a more affirmative approach to harnessing the everyday forms of resistance already present within disabled people’s lives. It speaks to academics, students, and practitioners interested in disability, affect studies, hate crime studies, sociology, and criminology.

This book critically examines the development of the ‘stirring up hatred’ offences which are currently found within the UK’s Public Order Act 1986. Through a critical discourse analysis of key excerpts of parliamentary Hansard, the book constructs a detailed genealogy of the offences from the perspectives that shaped them. A novel application of theory on 'myth' is used to navigate the complex arguments and to trace ideas about identity and order across parliamentary debates, from fears of Fascism in the 1930s to condemnations of homophobia in the early 21^st century. The story of the stirring up hatred offences told in this book therefore extends far beyond the traditional frame of a dilemma between regulating hate speech and safeguarding free speech: it is inextricably entwined with myths about law, race and national identity, and speaks to wider themes of coloniality, neoliberalism, white entitlement, British-Christian exceptionalism and the innocence of law. Written in an accessible and engaging style, this book challenges a wide range of assumptions about hate speech law and raises a series of considerations for developing forms of accountability that are less complicit in the harms that they are supposed to redress.

This book offers a critical analysis of hate crime law using Italy as a case study. Employing a multidisciplinary approach, it develops an international framework for mapping hate crime laws onto the phenomenon of hate crime itself, allowing for better legislation to be drafted. It shows how this analytical tool may be used in practice by applying it to legislation in Italy, where Parliament recently dismissed a legislative proposal to extend hate crime law to sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability. The framework allows readers to critique the rationale behind hate crime laws and the effect of, or potential effect of, their implementation. This book ultimately seeks to answer to the question of how and whether States can legitimately introduce a harsher sentence for bias motivated crimes. It bridges interdisciplinary hate studies and more traditional legal analysis. It speaks to an international audience as well as to an audience with a specific interest in the Italian context.