Research
Essex academic in heated debate about 'hate crime laws'
An Essex sociology academic recently took part in a heated
panel discussion to review the arguments for and against so called 'hate
crime laws' to mark the publication of a new book on the subject.
The Hate Debate, a book published by the Institute for Jewish Policy
Research (JPR), and edited by Dr Paul Iganski of the Department of
Sociology was at the centre of the debate. It was Dr Iganski who also
introduced the discussion that was held at the JPR in London during
mid-April.
Every year thousands of crimes are committed involving some kind of
bigotry against the victim, it is these crimes that have been labelled
'hate crimes' by courts in the United States. In the US laws have also
been introduced that enable harsher punishment of hate crime offenders
compared with offenders in parallel crimes who are motivated by other
reasons.
Britain does have its own variety of hate crime laws. The 1998 Crime
and Disorder Act calls for stricter punishment for racially aggravated
offences. These 'hate crime' provisions were extended just a few months
ago under the 2001 Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act, to cover
religiously aggravated offences.
Opponents to such hate crime laws in the US argue that offenders are
given extra punishment for their bad values, and they are therefore
essentially punished for 'thought crimes.' According to one contributor to
The Hate Debate, Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby, 'one of the worst
defects of hate crime laws is that they punish not just deeds, but
opinions….This amounts to an assault on freedom of speech and belief.'
However, there has been very little debate in Britain. This panel
discussion gave opponents and supporters of hate crime laws a much-needed
opportunity to discuss the moral aspects of the laws and how they might be
advantageous or destructive if introduced more extensively in Britain.
According to Dr Iganski, 'it is important to engage with such arguments
because the right to freedom of expression, and the thought behind
expression, is a cherished right in Britain….[and] although this might
not be a popular opinion to express, perpetrators of crimes have rights
too, and arguably a measure of our civilisation is the degree to which
criminals are treated justly.'
The debate was chaired by JPR Director Professor Barry Kosmin with
contributions by, among others, the leading human rights lawyer Geoffrey
Bindman, Peter Fahy, Deputy Chief Constable of Surrey Police, and Gary
Younge, columnist for The Guardian.
The JPR is an independent think-tank that informs and influences
policy, opinion and decision-making on social, political and cultural
issues affecting Jewish life. Dr Iganski was appointed a Civil Society
Fellow of the JPR in 1999 where he now carries out research on racism,
anti-Semitism, civil rights and the law, within their civil society
programme.
ESRC funds study into young offenders
Professor Richard Hammersley, of the Department of Health and
Human Sciences (DHHS), was recently awarded a grant worth nearly
£190,000 to study the links between substance abuse and youth crime.
The award, granted by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC),
will fund one of five different projects looking at the varying concepts
of 'risk' and being 'at risk' for young offenders. The network is being
directed by academics at the University of Sheffield while studies are
also being carried out at the Universities of Newcastle, De Montfort and
Nottingham.
The Essex project, entitled 'The identification of risk and protective
factors, and levels of substance misuse among young offenders,' will
involve 500 young people, aged between 14 and 17, from 10 Youth Offending
Teams across England and Wales who will complete questionnaires under the
guidance of researchers. The questionnaires will relate to three main
areas: substance misuse; offending; and risk and protective factors.
Additional questions will explore the young persons' expectations of
themselves by the age of 25.
The groups of youngsters taking part will include those with
substantial misuse problems and those with no or only experimental
experience of substance abuse.
It is hoped that the study will enable researchers to examine patterns
of substance use amongst young offenders and identify relationships
between substance misuse, offending, and personal and social risk factors.
Another of the main aims is to identify possible factors and influences
that help young offenders resist and desist drug misuse.
The study is expected to be complete in September 2005.
Also in the printed June edition of Wyvern:
- New University research @ Adastral Park
- Business Managers appointed
