ABSTRACT

Crimes that are motivated by racial hatred have a special and compelling call on our conscience.

Professor Lawrence, in his book Punishing Hate1 justifies these words by referring to the approach that the media takes to racist crime. He suggests that newspaper coverage of crime reflects the concerns of society and he demonstrates how numerous assaults occur every day and yet these receive little, and then only local, attention. Similarly, Lawrence argues, that the general public ordinarily cares little whether any particular assault leads to a prosecution of the perpetrators and, if it does, whether any particular prosecution results in a conviction. He argues, this pattern of indifference contrasts sharply with the reaction to crimes that implicate race relations, going on to justify the introduction of enhanced sentencing for crimes motivated by race.