Abstract
This article makes an important contribution to the field of hate studies by advancing the understanding of hate crime policing in the United Kingdom. The article presents an ethnographic case study on hate crime policing within a small-city police station in England. The study focused primarily on the police station’s Community Cohesion Unit (CCU), which was responsible for supporting hate crime informants, and for monitoring and assisting police officers handling hate incidents and hate crimes. The case study is mostly descriptive and exploratory in nature. Its primary objective is to provide needed insight into the inner workings of a police unit in order to obtain systematic knowledge on how hate crime laws are enforced in real-world settings. The study does not aim to present a new theory of hate crime policing; but in gathering fresh data from a new source, the study suggests potential directions for future empirical work and theoretical inquiry.
Highlights
Each year, hundreds of thousands of people in the United Kingdom believe that they have been victimized because of their race, gender, religion, sexuality, or disability status (BCS, 2008; Stonewall, 2008)
The findings below describe how the Lakeview Community Cohesion Unit (CCU) and the Lakeview police force generally handled hate incidents and hate crimes. This descriptive analysis provides needed and structured insight into how hate crime laws are enforced by the British police
One shortcoming of any case study is that it is difficult to determine whether the results apply to other contexts
Summary
Hundreds of thousands of people in the United Kingdom believe that they have been victimized because of their race, gender, religion, sexuality, or disability status (BCS, 2008; Stonewall, 2008). Police officers have the critical responsibility of enforcing hate crime laws, little is known about how the British police apply these laws to everyday situations (Gerstenfeld, 2004). This article makes an important contribution to the field of hate studies by advancing the understanding of hate crime policing in the United Kingdom. The recent surge of hate crime laws enacted in the United Kingdom during the past decade shows that policymakers view hate crime as a serious problem. Improving the enforcement of hate crime laws requires an understanding of the difficulties that police officers face, and the special considerations that arise, when applying these laws to actual situations. Jordan Blair Woods is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Cambridge, Institute of Criminology. He received an M.Phil. from the University of Cambridge in 2010, a J.D. from UCLA School of Law in 2009, and an A.B. from Harvard College in 2006
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