ABSTRACT
Other chapters have explored the nature of various forms of discrimination and violence as part of the everyday experiences of children in schools. For example, chapter 4 explores the nature of homophobic bullying and chapter 7 explores the role that religion and ethnicity can play in bullying in schools. What is clear from these examples is that young people are being targeted not only because of age, but other factors such as race, ethnic identity and sexual orientation. They are being made victims of bullying and violence because they are perceived to be ‘different’ from others. Homophobic bullying, disablist bullying and bullying due to race, gender or religion are technically, according to legal definitions, ‘hate crimes’. Hate crime, whilst a relatively new phenomenon in terms of criminal law, has been a way of demonising those considered ‘different’ throughout history, marginalising those who are perceived to be different from a more accepted, or mainstream, culture. As has already been discussed in this theme, children are both victims and perpetrators of this kind of violence or bullying. If such behaviour were to take place outside of the school setting and by those who are over the age of criminal responsibility, there would be legal consequences and official records of these incidents. However, as these occur-rences are generally dealt with by the school, there is a lack of understanding of the nature and extent of the problem. This chapter will explore this further using information from a range of sources.
