Authors:
- Explores the complexities of developing hate crime legislation in the US
- Highlights potential pitfalls for law enforcement indentifying hate crimes
- Presents strategies and areas for future research in preventing hate crimes
- Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras
Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Criminology (BRIEFSCRIMINOL)
Part of the book sub series: SpringerBriefs in Policing (BRIEFSPOLICI)
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Table of contents (8 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
About this book
This volume begins with an introduction about defining hate crimes, and the history of hate crimes and hate crime legislation in the United States. The author shows arguments in favor of hate crime statutes, for example: hate crimes reach beyond their victims to members of the victims’ protected group and cohesion of society at large, and should therefore carry higher penalties.The author also shows arguments against hate crime statutes, for example that they sometimes contain enhanced penalties for certain specially protected groups and not others, and have a high potential for ambiguity and uneven enforcement. From a law enforcement perspective, the author explores the practical challenges in enforcing these statutes, and solutions to address them. Investigative techniques and resources vary significantly across police departments, as does training to identify and distinguish hate crimes from ordinary crimes. There is high potential for law enforcement and prosecutors’ personal biases to effect the classification of crimes as hate crimes. Law enforcement organizations are constantly faced with the dilemma of what and how to enforce legislation.
This brief will be relevant for researchers in criminology and criminal justice, policy makers involved in hate crime legislation, social justice, and police-community relations, as well as related fields such as sociology, public policy and demography.
Authors and Affiliations
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Department of Criminal Justice, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York, USA
Frank S. Pezzella
About the author
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Hate Crime Statutes
Book Subtitle: A Public Policy and Law Enforcement Dilemma
Authors: Frank S. Pezzella
Series Title: SpringerBriefs in Criminology
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40842-2
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: Law and Criminology, Law and Criminology (R0)
Copyright Information: The Author(s) 2017
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-40840-8Published: 08 August 2016
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-40842-2Published: 28 July 2016
Series ISSN: 2192-8533
Series E-ISSN: 2192-8541
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: VII, 84
Number of Illustrations: 2 illustrations in colour
Topics: Criminology and Criminal Justice, general, Human Rights, Social Structure, Social Inequality