ABSTRACT
Hate crime' is a politically and socially significant term that cuts across disciplines, across communities and across borders. The volume of theoretical and empirical developments in hate crime scholarship over recent years has helped to develop a significantly more nuanced picture of these multi-layered and complex offences. It is important to recognise the interplay between hate crime victimisation and socio-economic status. Hate crimes can often be triggered and exacerbated by socio-economic conditions, and some potential targets of hate crime will invariably be better placed than others to avoid persecution by virtue of living. This chapter highlights the differing ways in which hate crime responses are being developed and deployed around the world. The problems posed by hate crime and the corresponding challenges for scholars, policy-makers and practitioners are all the more sizeable in the context of prevailing economic, political and social conditions which act as enabling factors for the continued demonisation of 'marginal' communities, and dwindling opportunities for young people.
