ABSTRACT
Hate crime has become an increasingly familiar term in recent years as the harms associated with acts of bigotry and prejudice continue to pose complex challenges for societies across the world. It is rightly seen as a human rights issue that has wider social and political ramifications beyond simply identifying criminal justice ‘solutions’ and the culpability of individual offenders. However, whilst hate crimes are now afforded greater recognition throughout all levels of society – from law-makers, law-enforcers, academics, students, activists and from ‘ordinary’ members of the public – some significant challenges remain. These continue to create uncertainty within the domains of hate crime scholarship and policy, particularly when it comes to making sense of the concept in a way that allows us to maximise its ‘real-life’ value to victims of hate crime.
