Clouds on the horizon

The study of hate crime has grown in size and significance during its relatively short ‘lifespan’. From the birth of the concept in the 1960s in the United States through to the present day, scholarly interest in the causes and consequences of hate crime has grown to such an extent that there are now a number of key texts that are into their second or third editions, accompanied by a plethora of edited collections, specialist journals or dedicated editions thereof, as well as numerous articles. The range of topics covered has also expanded, from initial investigations into the causes and consequences of acts of ‘hate’ that mainly focused around ‘race’ and racism, through to those that have examined a wide variety of ‘emerging’ groups whose victimisation is characterised by attacks on their core identities. These studies have also crossed a number of academic disciplines, including criminology, political science, psychology, forensic science, history, law and sociology, spawning a seemingly ever-rising number of conferences, workshops and symposia that attract delegates from across the globe.

Accompanying this rise in academic interest in hate crime has been a recognition of the social significance of the phenomenon across statutory, voluntary and private sectors, from key actors within the political and criminal justice spheres through the media and then ‘down’ to those at a grassroots level, including activists, campaigners and community volunteers. Work across and within all of these different levels, both nationally and internationally, has been influenced by a desire to challenge manifestations of prejudice and bigotry, through legal and political interventions, police initiatives and a vast array of community and organisational campaigns. Yet, as my co-editor of this book, Neil Chakraborti, mentions in the Introduction to this volume, there have been concerns that this growth in interest in hate crime has, at times, seemed like so much ‘hot air’ as it has not produced the types of outcomes or benefits that it should have, given the resources dedicated to it. In both the practitioner and scholarly domains, there has been a danger that the activity in and around hate crime has developed into something of a self-sustaining ‘industry’ that lacks the capacity to make a meaningful difference to the lives of victims of these offences.