In recent years 'hate crime' has rapidly ascended political, policing and wider criminal justice agenda, and an increasing range of legislative measures have been implemented in the UK, the US and elsewhere to combat it. Yet research and writing on the subject has largely failed to keep up with these new realities, especially in the UK. This text aims to fill this gap by examining various aspects of 'hate crime' in a predominantly British context, but situating this within the wider international criminological and policing literature on the subject. The book looks in detail at the way the police have responded to hate crime, and the policies and practice now being adopted to respond to it.