ABSTRACT
The legacy of the one-dimensional way of thinking about “racially motivated offender” is becoming apparent in the criminal justice system. This chapter sets out the conceptual moves needed to transcend this debilitatingly one-dimensional model. Drawing on D. Jackson and S. Pratt’s analysis of the identities of the “prime suspects” in the F. Lawrence case, it explores the relationship between psychic defences and racist fantasies as developed by those who have followed in the psychoanalytic footsteps of M. Klein. The chapter utilizes the account provided by a perpetrator called “Steve” to help reveal how persecutory thoughts can become infused, through the process of projective identification, with racialized hostility. It concludes by signalling the importance of deconstructing the symbolic dimensions of hate crimes and responses to them, and urging scholars and policymakers to reappraise the disclosures of the men suspected of killing Stephen Lawrence in the light of what is known about the suspects’ life histories.
