Memory, Hate, and the Criminalization of Bias-Motivated Violence
BREAKING THE CYCLES OF HATRED: MEMORY, HATE AND THE CRIMINALIZATION OF BIAS-MOTIVATED VIOLENCE, Martha Minow, ed., Princeton University Press, Forthcoming
19 Pages Posted: 6 Aug 2007
Abstract
Bias crimes exist within a context and within a culture. Similarly, a polity's bias crime law reveals context, and provides insights to the society's self-understanding. This paper sketches the background of British bias crime law, along with the case for understanding recent developments as an instance of dramatic legal change. It also offers some tentative observations as to the reasons for these changes, and the implications of these observations for using bias crime law as a window into a society's self-perception as a multicultural society.
The paper first outlines a framework for understanding bias crimes, using the American context as a point of departure, and addresses several of the challenges that Professor Minow has set for those who argue in support of bias crime legislation. First, criminal punishment must elevate society even as it punishes wrongdoers. Second, criminal punishment has an essential educative and expressive function. Perhaps put more accurately, criminal punishment plays a role in the development and expression of societal values, a wide-ranging process that involves public and private realms, and moves well beyond legal systems to embrace education, civic and social organizations, and private social relations. The experiences of the United Kingdom may have much to teach us in this regard.
Keywords: bias crime, societal values, criminal punishment
JEL Classification: J78, K14, K42
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation