Background:
This group study was set up to explore current issues in hate crimes within contemporary society. Following an in-depth background research into religiously motivated hate crimes which was enhanced further by Paul Giannasi’s (2015) lecture, the group decided to critically analyse and explore religiously motivated hate crimes due to its prevalence in recent times.
Giannasi highlighted that the exploration of hate crime was important as it gave society a better understanding of its causes, impact and how best to tackle the problem. In order to nip the problem in the bud, Ginnasi (2015) argued that the government had the obligation to enact laws and policies which are designed to minimise hate crimes. The group therefore decided …show more content…
The concept of hate crime is quite complex to define as it is determined by cultural differences, social norms and political interests (Boeckmann and Turpin-Petrosino 2002). Due to the complexity in defining this concept, this study will adopt Perry’s definition which stipulates that ‘hate crime… involves acts of violence and intimidation, usually directed towards already stigmatised and marginalised groups. As such, it is a mechanism of power and oppression, intended to reaffirm the precarious hierarchies that characterise a given social order. It attempts to re-create simultaneously the threatened (real or imagined) hegemony of the perpetrator’s group and the perpetrator’s group and the ‘appropriate’ subordinate identity of the victim’s group. It is a means of marking both the Self and the Other in such a way as to re-establish their ‘proper’ relative positions, as given and reproduced by broader ideologies and patterns of social and political inequality (Perry cited in Chakraborti and Garland 2009 p.5). This definition correlates with the former Labour Home Secretary, Jack Straw who recognised that any offence that was wholly or partly racially motivated would be identified as ‘hate crime’ (Law Commission 2013). Religiously motivated prejudices and offences will thus fall under the same …show more content…
This may be argued to be the government’s implementation of some preventive measures to combat religiously motivated hatred and prejudice within society. The Racial and Religious Act 2006 was thus enacted to protect the identity of faith communities from attacks (Chakraborti and Garland 2009). The enactment of this law was to ensure that victims of religiously motivated crimes were protected against those that incite religious hatred. However, encompassing the freedom of expression clause within section 29J of the Act meant that ‘the…discussion, criticism or expressions of antipathy, dislike, ridicule, insult or abuse of particular groups…is not enough to constitute incitement’ (Chakraborti and Garland 2009
This group study was set up to explore current issues in hate crimes within contemporary society. Following an in-depth background research into religiously motivated hate crimes which was enhanced further by Paul Giannasi’s (2015) lecture, the group decided to critically analyse and explore religiously motivated hate crimes due to its prevalence in recent times.
Giannasi highlighted that the exploration of hate crime was important as it gave society a better understanding of its causes, impact and how best to tackle the problem. In order to nip the problem in the bud, Ginnasi (2015) argued that the government had the obligation to enact laws and policies which are designed to minimise hate crimes. The group therefore decided …show more content…
The concept of hate crime is quite complex to define as it is determined by cultural differences, social norms and political interests (Boeckmann and Turpin-Petrosino 2002). Due to the complexity in defining this concept, this study will adopt Perry’s definition which stipulates that ‘hate crime… involves acts of violence and intimidation, usually directed towards already stigmatised and marginalised groups. As such, it is a mechanism of power and oppression, intended to reaffirm the precarious hierarchies that characterise a given social order. It attempts to re-create simultaneously the threatened (real or imagined) hegemony of the perpetrator’s group and the perpetrator’s group and the ‘appropriate’ subordinate identity of the victim’s group. It is a means of marking both the Self and the Other in such a way as to re-establish their ‘proper’ relative positions, as given and reproduced by broader ideologies and patterns of social and political inequality (Perry cited in Chakraborti and Garland 2009 p.5). This definition correlates with the former Labour Home Secretary, Jack Straw who recognised that any offence that was wholly or partly racially motivated would be identified as ‘hate crime’ (Law Commission 2013). Religiously motivated prejudices and offences will thus fall under the same …show more content…
This may be argued to be the government’s implementation of some preventive measures to combat religiously motivated hatred and prejudice within society. The Racial and Religious Act 2006 was thus enacted to protect the identity of faith communities from attacks (Chakraborti and Garland 2009). The enactment of this law was to ensure that victims of religiously motivated crimes were protected against those that incite religious hatred. However, encompassing the freedom of expression clause within section 29J of the Act meant that ‘the…discussion, criticism or expressions of antipathy, dislike, ridicule, insult or abuse of particular groups…is not enough to constitute incitement’ (Chakraborti and Garland 2009