Legislating against hate: outlawing racism and antisemitism in Britain

Abstract

Racist violence across Europe in recent years has presented a serious social problem. In Britain, the British Crime Survey has revealed that racist incidents are far more extensive than the number represented by police statistics, and the extent of the problem presents a considerable challenge for policy intervention. The inquiry into the death of Stephen Lawrence has recently forced the issue of racist violence onto the public and policy agenda. But scholarly analysis of the problem is in its infancy, and the emerging literature has neglected antisemitic manifestations. There has also been little evaluation of policy intervention, and especially the role that legislation might play. Legislation against racially motivated violence has provided a key element of the Labour government's intervention against crime and disorder. Possible legislation against holocaust denial and a review of provisions against incitement to ‘racial’ hatred have also been on the policy agenda. But legislating against racism and antisemitism confronts a potential conflict between claims to freedom of expression and rights to freedom from acts of violence, threats, hostility and damage. It is timely, therefore, to evaluate the dilemmas confronting legislative intervention. In considering the moral and practical difficulties involved, this article argues that it is possible to legislate against acts of racism and antisemitism without unjustly curtailing the rights of the perpetrators of such acts. Practical limitations remain, however, and there is a need for policy learning from measures that have been established in European countries and elsewhere.

The challenge of working with racially motivated offenders: An exercise in ambivalence?

“…There is a vast and growing body of research dedicated to a wide array of issues and topics in and around the wider area of hate crime: for example, Bell (2002), Hall (2005), Iganski (1999aIganski ( , 1999bIganski ( , 2002, Iganski et al (2005), Jacobs and Potter (1998), Jenness and Broad (1997), McGhee (2003aMcGhee ( , 2004McGhee ( , 2005a, Mason (2002), Moran (2000Moran ( , 2001, to name but a few sources. Much of this work analyses the processes whereby hate crimes are introduced to the criminal law, and examines specific hate crime incidents and their aftermath.…”

Why make ‘hate’ a crime?

“…Or put another way, what are the objectives of outlawing racially aggravated crime in Britain, and what are the prospects for achieving them? An earlier article in Critical Social Policy (Iganski, 1999) addressed the conflicts over 'rights' involved in legislating against racism and antisemitism. This article provides a further dimension in considering the objectives of hate crime legislation.…”

The legislative context of prejudice motivated victimisation: perceptions of police legitimacy and citizen decisions to report hate crime incidents

“…In the first half of the Twentieth century in Europe, discussions around hate crime legislation emerged in the context of international human rights treaties and domestic statutes set out to conquer victimisation and genocide of certain groups (Goodall, 2013;Mason, 2014d (Dixon & Gadd, 2006;Wright, 2010). In the 1990s, a rise in numbers of racist incidents provided the impetus for further legislative approaches concerning hate crime (Iganski, 1999a).…”

“…Criminal policies are also often based on the assumption that people will obey the law when formal policing and sanctions are present (Jackson et al, 2012). When people view the law and agents of the law as rightful owners of authority, who have the right to make decisions about citizen behaviour and demanding obedience and, as well, entertain the notion that obeying the law is the right thing to do, legitimacy is present (Iganski, 1999a;Jackson et al, 2012;Tyler, 2006a). Although not everyone will agree with every single law, the public recognises that a system of laws is necessary (Jackson et al, 2012).…”