ABSTRACT
Offences that we now recognise as hate crimes have a long history, as we shall see in Chapter 3, but until relatively recently they were not officially labelled as such. Today politicians, criminal justice agencies, the media, and the public use the term fairly liberally. Society’s concern with this ‘new’ type of crime is therefore a relatively recent development. But what is it exactly that we mean when we talk about ‘hate crime’? Before we can explore any of the issues associated with the concept it is crucial that we have an understanding of exactly what it is that we are talking about. As we shall see, much depends upon the strength and depth of this understanding. As such, this opening chapter will seek to define and conceptualise hate crime, and will examine the inherent difficulties and complexities associated with doing so. The wide implications associated with the use of various definitions will also be explored.
