Title: Understanding Experiences of Hate Crime Victimisation and Expectations of Criminal Justice Responses
Funder: Economic and Social Research Council

Abstract: The proposed research is centred around the issue of hate crime, a term that is used to describe crimes committed against people because of prejudice towards their identity characteristics or perceived 'difference'. The research will examine the nature and impact of hate crime (or targeted victimisation, to use the term preferred by the proposers) as experienced by those who are subjected to the types of violence, harassment and abuse associated with this harrowing form of crime. It will also investigate their perceptions and expectations of criminal justice agencies and other service providers in order to assess the needs of victims and to identify lessons for effective service delivery. This will be achieved through the distribution of online and written surveys to a wide range of different communities susceptible to targeted victimisation and through the undertaking of interviews with members of these populations. Those groups who will be accessed include: minority ethnic and faith communities; lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities; those with physical or learning disabilities; the homeless; asylum seekers and refugees; and Gypsy Traveller communities. Equally, the research will have the capacity to capture the experiences and perceptions of those who may feel that they have been victimised because of mental health issues or their membership of an alternative subculture, or indeed because of other identity characteristics which do not form the basis of the more generic communities typically associated with hate crime victimisation. The site for the proposed research is Leicester, one of the most plural cities in the UK containing a diverse range of communities who are targeted, or who are at risk of being targeted simply because of who they are. The research team have already secured access to in excess of 150 different community groups and networks, each containing large numbers of potential research participants who have suffered from this form of victimisation. The research comes at a time when both official figures and academic studies show levels of hate crime to be rising and when people's fear of the 'other' continues to be exploited by far-right parties such as the British National Party and extreme protest groups like the English Defence League. As such the proposed research is both significant and timely, particularly as criminal justice agencies, local authorities and other organisations who could potentially offer support to victims, are facing converging pressures, including significant cuts to resources, the impact of organisational restructuring, civil unrest and a loss of public confidence in their policies and processes for responding to targeted victimisation. Against this background there is a danger that the forms of violence, harassment and abuse directed at some of the more vulnerable members of society could escape undetected as agencies are forced to prioritise what may be seen as more pressing, or more visible problems Within this context the study will make a practical contribution to knowledge about how agencies can develop cost-effective responses that meet the needs and expectations of victims of targeted violence. It will also contribute significantly to the academic literature on hate crime and victimisation, and the lessons learned at a regional level for both policy and scholarship will be extracted and disseminated to a national audience through publications, conferences and workshops.


Research activity codes: 7.1 INDIVIDUAL CARE NEEDS;8.1 ORGANISATION AND DELIVERY OF SERVICES
Health categories: MENTAL HEALTH