A Picture of Hate Crime: Racial and Homophobic Harassment in the United Kingdom

The growth of right-wing extremism, especially where it segues into hate crime and terrorism, poses new challenges for governments, not least because its perpetrators are typically lone actors, often radicalized online. The United Kingdom has struggled to define, tackle or legitimate against extremism, though it already has an extensive array of terrorism-related offences that target expression, encouragement, publication and possession of terrorist material. In 2019, the United Kingdom went further to make viewing terrorist-related material online on a single occasion a crime carrying a 15-year maximum sentence. This article considers whether UK responses to extremism, particularly those that target non-violent extremism, are necessary, proportionate, effective and compliant with fundamental rights. It explores whether criminalizing the curiosity of those who explore radical political ideas constitutes legitimate criminalization or overextends state power and risks chilling effects on freedom of speech, association, academic freedom, journalistic enquiry and informed public debate—all of which are the lifeblood of a liberal democracy.

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Formulating the legislative structure of a hate crime

Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly ◽

10.53386/nilq.v72iad2.197 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 72 (AD2) ◽

Author(s):

Jennifer Schweppe

Keyword(s):

United Kingdom ◽

Comparative Analysis ◽

Northern Ireland ◽

Hate Crime ◽

The United Kingdom ◽

Hate Crime Legislation ◽

Irish Context ◽

Crime Legislation ◽

Legislative Structure ◽

Statutory Basis

Whilst hate crime legislation is well established in the three jurisdictions of the United Kingdom, Ireland has failed to address the issue of hate crime on a statutory basis. This article will seek to explore what legislative structure is most appropriate for such legislation in an Irish context, drawing on a comparative analysis of both the form and operation of such legislation in England and Wales, Northern Ireland, and Canada.

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‘You all look the same’: Non-Muslim men who suffer Islamophobic hate crime in the post-Brexit era

European Journal of Criminology ◽

10.1177/1477370818812735 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 17 (5) ◽

pp. 585-602 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Imran Awan ◽

Irene Zempi

Keyword(s):

United Kingdom ◽

Thematic Analysis ◽

Lived Experiences ◽

Hate Crime ◽

Qualitative Interviews ◽

Terrorist Attacks ◽

Economic Damage ◽

The United Kingdom ◽

Muslim Men ◽

The Uk

Existing research on Islamophobic hate crime has examined in detail the verbal, physical and emotional attacks against Muslims. However, the experiences of non-Muslim men who suffer Islamophobic hate crime because they look Muslim remain ‘invisible’ in both official statistics and empirical research. Drawing on data from qualitative interviews with 20 non-Muslim men based in the United Kingdom, we examined their lived experiences of Islamophobic hate crime. Interviews were transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis. A deductive approach to thematic analysis was adopted to analyse participants’ narratives, and six overarching themes were developed: (1) nature of Islamophobic hate crime; (2) triggers of Islamophobic hate crime; (3) impact of Islamophobic hate crime; (4) reporting incidents, responses and barriers to Islamophobic hate; (5) victims’ coping strategies; and (6) recommendations on tackling the problem. Our findings show that participants experienced Islamophobic hate crime because of ‘trigger’ events, namely the Brexit vote, Donald Trump’s presidency and ISIS-inspired terrorist attacks in European countries such as France, Germany, Sweden and the UK. Participants described being verbally and physically attacked, threatened and harassed as well as their property being damaged. The impacts upon victims included physical, emotional, psychological and economic damage. These experiences were also damaging to community cohesion and led to polarization between different communities in the UK.

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Practical Implications of the Enactment of the Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006

Ecclesiastical Law Journal ◽

10.1017/s0956618x07000348 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 9 (2) ◽

pp. 187-201 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Anthony Jeremy

Keyword(s):

United Kingdom ◽

Hate Crime ◽

Freedom Of Speech ◽

The United Kingdom ◽

Hate Crime Legislation ◽

Crime Legislation ◽

Substantive Law ◽

Practical Implications

Legislators have normally exercised one of two options when enacting hate crime legislation. They either provide for punishment of ordinary criminal acts to be enhanced when the offence has been committed by reason of prejudice or hatred towards the victim, or they pass an Act which establishes an entirely new substantive offence. The United Kingdom Parliament adopted the first approach under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, initially with regard to racially aggravated crimes and later in respect of religiously aggravated offences. In passing the Race and Religious Hatred Acts 2006, Parliament has taken the second approach and created a new substantive law. This paper considers the specific requirements that will need to be satisfied in order to establish the offence and some issues that arise in relation to proof of intention, relevance of motive and the nature of the language required to constitute hatred, in the light of the concession to freedom of speech contained in the statute.

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Reporting Racist Hate Crime Victimization to the Police in the United States and the United Kingdom: A Cross-National Comparison

The British Journal of Criminology ◽

10.1093/bjc/azaa008 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 60 (4) ◽

pp. 1034-1055

Author(s):

Wesley Myers ◽

Brendan Lantz

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

United Kingdom ◽

Hate Crime ◽

The United States ◽

Hate Crimes ◽

Crime Victimization ◽

The United Kingdom ◽

Victim Reporting ◽

National Comparison ◽

Using Data

Abstract Hate is a global phenomenon as evidenced by recent increases in hate crimes in both the United States and the United Kingdom; unfortunately, these crimes are also substantially underreported in both nations. Following this, this research presents an examination of racially motivated hate crimes and victim reporting to the police in both nations using data from the National Crime Victimization Survey and the Crime Survey of England and Wales from 2003 to 2015. Results indicate that, overall, victim reporting has been increasing in the United Kingdom and decreasing in the United States. Disaggregating by victim and offender race, however, reveals divergent trends such that anti-black hate crime victim reporting is increasing in the United States and decreasing in the United Kingdom. Policy and research implications are discussed.

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The Need for New Tools to Break the Silos: Identity Categories in Hate Speech Legislation

International Journal for Crime Justice and Social Democracy ◽

10.5204/ijcjsd.v7i2.501 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 7 (2) ◽

pp. 75-90

Author(s):

Jen Neller

Keyword(s):

United Kingdom ◽

Sexual Orientation ◽

Hate Crime ◽

Hate Speech ◽

Public Order ◽

The United Kingdom ◽

Hate Crime Legislation ◽

Crime Legislation ◽

Laws And Policies ◽

Hate Crime Laws

The implications of specifying certain identity categories have been widely debated in the context of hate crime laws and policies. However, they have been less thoroughly examined in the particular contexts of hate speech. Although the majority of laws regulating speech do not differentiate between identity categories, the ‘stirring up’ offences of the United Kingdom Public Order Act 1986 are stratified along grounds of race, religion and sexual orientation. This article argues that, while the concerns raised about identity categories in relation to hate crime legislation are equally relevant to the stirring up provisions, the proposed solutions cannot automatically be transposed to hate speech offences. Accordingly, this article explores challenges that are encountered in attempts to make hate crime and hate speech legislation more inclusive before advancing some tentative suggestions for how hate speech laws might move beyond identity silos.

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Hate crime in the United Kingdom

The Routledge International Handbook on Hate Crime ◽

10.4324/9780203578988-10 ◽

2014 ◽

pp. 105-116

Author(s):

Paul Giannasi

Keyword(s):

United Kingdom ◽

Hate Crime ◽

The United Kingdom

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Contested feelings: Mapping emotional journeys of LGBTI rights and reforms

Alternative Law Journal ◽

10.1177/1037969x20927500 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 45 (2) ◽

pp. 125-130

Author(s):

Senthorun Raj

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

United Kingdom ◽

Case Studies ◽

Hate Crime ◽

The United States ◽

Marriage Equality ◽

The United Kingdom ◽

Refugee Law

This reflection explores how emotion shapes lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) rights and law reforms. Drawing on case studies from Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, the author maps how disgust regulates sexuality, hate manifests in hate crime penalties, anger arises in anti-discrimination measures, fear polices refugee law, anxiety shapes trans children’s access to medical transition, pity and compassion inhibit intersex autonomy, and love enables marriage equality. Legal scholars, activists, lawyers, and judges need to take emotion seriously to better address the pressing challenges facing LGBTI people.

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