ABSTRACT
Hate crime refers to prejudicial or biased criminal acts against a person or property that are motivated by a victim’s actual or perceived sexuality, race, ethnicity, disability, religion or gender. Although legally, morally and politically this is a contentious area, since the 1980s and 1990s the concept of hate crime has become embedded within law, criminal justice systems, academia, politics and society. Radical social movements campaigned for state action with regard to crime motivated by hatred, resulting in legislation being introduced in the United States and the United Kingdom from the 1990s onwards. Hate crime legislation evokes the violence of the law (law’s legitimate capacity to inflict punishment), thus perpetrators who commit a crime that is motivated by hatred, bias or prejudice will be subject to tougher sentences. Other measures include the creation of new offences and changes in policing practices and reporting and recording procedures.
