Book Review: Policing hate crime: Understanding communities and prejudice

This article considers the implementation of police hate crime policy. Victoria, a state in Australia, provides a case study of a jurisdiction where police have introduced a Prejudice Motivated Crime Strategy without an animating hate crime offence. The article identifies the organisational, relational and operational challenges and opportunities that arise in the implementation of this strategy. The literature reveals that successfully policing hate crime is impeded where the approach to defining and categorising hate crime is over- or under-inclusive. Over-inclusive approaches focus on community expectations while under-inclusive approaches are oriented towards prosecution. The absence of a legally bounded definition of hate crime in Victoria provides an opportunity to develop an approach that meets public expectations and operational needs of police, thus avoiding the pitfalls of over- or under-inclusive approaches. To realise this opportunity, the article draws upon the results of a research partnership between Victoria Police and a consortium of Australian universities. Synthesising legal standards with community interests, a set of five markers are advanced for frontline officers to negotiate, rather than assume, a common understanding of hate crime and to build police/community trust. The article makes an important contribution to the field by demonstrating that it is possible to advance the implementation of hate crime policy through strategies that are responsive to both legal standards and community expectations.

In the last decade of the twentieth and the first two decades of twenty-first-century policing hate crime has established itself as an important, high profile area of work undertaken by police services in the UK. In the circumstances, it is to be expected that such a relatively new police initiative would give rise to the dilemmas in policy and practice that are highlighted in this chapter. The first dilemma emerges from the key policy of affording enhanced credibility to individuals reporting allegations of hate crime to police. The second dilemma revolves around the expansion of groups or issues that are included under the rubric of hate crime. The third dilemma is perhaps the most intractable and focuses on those hate crimes that do not involve physical violence or harm. The dilemmas are elucidated to contribute to academic, policy maker and practitioner discussions on the future development of hate crime policing.

Globally, there has been a trend in rising levels of hate crime that scholars have argued is reflective of significant social problems within society. Research into hate crime has typically focused on the police and their subsequent response to this crime type, with many findings reporting that the police are racist, homophobic and Islamophobic, to name but a few. However, existing research seldom captures the insights and experiences of sworn police officers, as much of the data is gathered from third parties. This paper presents the empirical findings from a Delphi study conducted with one police force in Australia, sampling sworn New South Wales (NSW) police officers between October 2020 and October 2021. The findings focus on four overarching areas: defining hate crime, perpetrators of hate crime, victims of hate crime, and responses to hate crime. These themes capture the perspectives of NSW police officers in relation to operational and organisational practice in respect of hate crime. Drawing on a Delphi method, the research outlines police perceptions of the nature of hate crime, as well as capturing how hate crime can be effectively reported, recorded, and responded to. Conclusions and implications are considered. These include the requirement for a clearer definition and targeted education strategies aimed at improving knowledge and understanding relating to hate crime. Future directions include the development of a standardised approach to reporting, recording, and responding to hate crime.

This engaging and thought-provoking text provides an accessible introduction to the subject of hate crime. In a world where issues of hatred and prejudice are creating complex challenges for society and for governments, this book provides an articulate and insightful overview of how such issues relate to crime and criminal justice. It offers comprehensive coverage, including topics such as: •Racist hate crime •Religiously motivated hate crime •Homophobic crime •Gender and violence •Disablist hate crime The book considers the challenges involved in policing hate crime, as well as exploring the role of the media. Legislative developments are discussed throughout. Chapter summaries, case studies, a glossary, and advice on further reading all help to equip the reader with a clear understanding of this nuanced and controversial subject. Hate Crime is essential reading for students and academics in criminology and criminal justice.

Despite its significance as a specific category of hate crime, anti-Jewish crime has received little attention in the scholarly literature on policing hate crime. Whereas hate crimes against Jews figure prominently in the annual hate crime statistics published by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the United States, there are no routinely published police data on anti-Jewish incidents in the United Kingdom. Given the concerns about a rise in anti-Semitism in Britain in recent years, this article expands on written and oral testimony provided by the author to the All-Party Parliamentary Inquiry Into Anti-Semitism. It illuminates the inadequacies in the police monitoring of, and use of data on, anti-Jewish incidents and discusses the shortcomings in the context of the value of hate crime data for police services.

How acts become hate crime: The police's documenting of criminal cases

The discussion contained within this article is derived from empirical research that explored the policing of hate crime in London and New York City. Through an examination of a range of policies, practices and experiences of those involved in the policing of hate crime, the article argues that this aspect of law enforcement and service provision is shaped by a complex relationship between a number of interdependent variables, which it is suggested can be broadly grouped into four categories: law, the police, the public and social context. The underlying message is that hate crime in particular is a social construct over which the police and public (most notably victims) have differing degrees of control, and that in turn this will inevitably impact upon the extent and nature of the hate crime ‘problem’, the way in which the ‘problem’ is responded to, and the effectiveness of these responses. In turn these inevitably have important implications for victims and communities and their experiences and perceptions of police service provision, and the wider social context in which the policing of hate crime takes place.

The author describes her journey from being a victim of hate crime motivated by her transgender identity, to someone who is now actively challenging such prejudice, and related offending, through her work as an advisor to the Merseyside police force, with which she is helping to build stronger and more diverse community partnerships.

Since the bomb attacks that occurred in London on July 7, 2005, hate and faith-hate crimes and other incidents have become a major focus of the police and government in the United Kingdom. This article presents some of the research that has taken place on the nature and policing of hate crime over the past 5 years in the London Metropolitan Police Service. Focusing in particular on recent research into anti-Semitism where a new typology of incidents has been developed, the article reveals that the majority of hate incidents reported to the police in London are perpetrated by people with whom victims come into contact in their daily lives, rather than predominantly by strangers or extremists. This provides the police with a number of challenges for both strategic thinking and operational practice. It also highlights the continual need for close liaison and consultation with minority communities and vulnerable groups within London.

A partnership between nurses at a London sexual health clinic and local police officers helps police in their work combating hate crime.

Policing hate crime in New York and Philadelphia

The author describes her journey from being a victim of hate crime motivated by her transgender identity, to someone who is now actively challenging such prejudice, and related offending, through her work as an advisor to the Merseyside police force, with which she is helping to build stronger and more diverse community partnerships.

Policing hate crime in a Multicultural society observations from Canada

Policing hate crime in London

Policing hate crime: problems, challenges and solutions