Part One - Working together: developing shared perspectives

Summary

Hate crime is a broad umbrella term that draws focus to the commonalities and distinctions between a diverse range of offences, harms and prejudices. These are complex, multi-layered problems that raise difficult questions for those working within this field. Such problems will invariably be all the more challenging in the context of prevailing economic, social and political factors, whether this be the continued demonisation of ‘marginal’ communities, the dwindling opportunities for young people across Europe or the prevailing climate of austerity and spending cuts. With this in mind, a collaborative, joinedup response from policy makers, practitioners, scholars and activists would seem to stand the best chance of addressing the problems posed by hate crime.

Part One gives examples of how collaborative thinking and the development of shared perspectives has facilitated improved work within the field of hate crime. Each chapter is written from a different perspective. Nathan Hall begins with a personalised account, documenting his experiences as an academic venturing into the world of hate crime policy making and illustrating ways in which real and constructed divides between the two domains of academia and policy can be bridged. The next chapter by Paul Giannasi draws from his experiences within the police service to examine the evolving relationship between policing, academia and government within the context of hate crime, and outlines why and how embedded partnerships between policy and scholarship can be mutually beneficial. Chapter Three's ‘in conversation’ piece with Sylvia Lancaster moves on to highlight the value of grassroots campaigning in generating debate about the intolerance of ‘difference’, in empowering targets of prejudice, and in encouraging greater recognition among academics and practitioners. Related themes are discussed within the next chapter from Rosie Campbell, which uses policy developments in the context of violence against sex workers as an example of the progress that can be made through the convergence of service provision, national policy advocacy and scholarship within the hate crime arena. Finally, Joanna Perry points to the lack of clarity internationally with regard to the conceptualisation and measurement of hate crime as a way of underlining the importance of interaction between activism, scholarship, law and policy as part of a global framework for understanding and addressing targeted violence.