The Hate Debate Should Hate be Punished as a Crime?

The hate debate is becoming increasingly urgent in both the US and the UK. This provocative collection helps frame that debate by asking all the right questions - and at the right time. Is justice served when someone committing an act of violence because of prejudice is punished more severely than someone who perpetrates the same assault for other reasons? That's the question posed by critics of 'hate crime' laws in the United States. It is also the central question addressed in The Hate Debate. Opponents say that hate crime laws infringe one's right to freedom of expression. They maintain that 'extra punishment' is not for the act itself, but for the bad VALUES and thoughts motivating the crime. On the other hand, supporters of hate crime laws argue that greater punishment is warranted because, in effect, hate crimes hurt more. The societal and other harms make hate crimes qualitatively different from crimes motivated on other grounds. What explains the emergence and extension of hate crime laws in the United States and in Britain? Do hate crime laws really create 'thought crimes'? Is extra punishment the best way to deal with hate? This collection of essays by leading commentators on both sides of the Atlantic seeks to clear a path through the current debate. Contributors: Elizabeth Burney, Senior Research Associate at Cambridge University's Institute of Criminology; Jeff Jacoby, award-winning columnist for the Boston Globe; Valerie Jenness, Chair of the Department of Criminology and associate professor, University of California, Irvine; Frederick M. Lawrence, Law Alumni Scholar and Professor of Law, Boston University Law School; Jack Levin, is the Brudnick Professor of Sociology and Criminology and Director of the Brudnick Center on Violence and Conflict, Northeastern University, Boston; Melanie Phillips, social commentator and columnist; Larry Ray, Professor of Sociology, University of Kent; David Smith, Professor of Social Work, Lancaster University; Peter Tatchell, journalist, author, broadcaster and campaigner on gay and other human rights.