Chapter 5 - Verbal and Textual Hostility in Context

Hate crime has become an increasingly familiar term in recent times as problems of bigotry and prejudice continue to pose complex challenges for societies across the world. Although greater recognition is now afforded to hate crimes and their associated harms by academics, policy-makers and criminal justice agencies, the problem is still widespread and many key questions remain unanswered. Are we doing enough to protect vulnerable members of society? Are we doing enough to address the offending behaviour of hate crime perpetrators? Are there better ways of understanding and responding to hate crime? This book brings together contributions from leading experts in the field to address these and other contested issues in this fascinating and often controvesial subject area. Drawing upon innovative work being undertaken nationally and internationally, the book offers fresh ideas on hate crime scholarship and policy and in so doing enables readers to re-evaluate the concept of hate crime in the light of fresh research, theory and policy. It provides much-needed ways of taking the `hate debate' forward as well as offering practical suggestions for developing both scholarship and policy in a more progressive manner. This book is written chiefly for students, academics and practitioners studying and working in the areas of `race' and anti-racism; ethnicity; religious, gender and sexual identity; disability; equalities and human rights; victimology; offending behaviour; socio-legal studies; community safety and cohesion; social policy; crime prevention and reduction; policing; criminal justice.