steepholm | Hate Crimes

I think this recent article by Rob Liddle in The Spectator must qualify as one of the worst pieces of mainstream journalism I've seen in a while, for its full house of a) "What about the poor middle-class white men?" entitlement; b) lack of humour (clearly Liddle's is the "Can't you take a joke?" school of bigotry, but his jokes aren't nearly good enough to make the offer tempting); and c) ignorance: quite apart from not having bothered to check the murder rates for trans people, for example, he seems to think that "intersex" refers to some kind of sexual orientation.

(Unless this part is a joke, and he's parodying the ravings of an ignorant bigot? In that case, though, I don't see the point of the article at all. Choosing intersex people as an amusingly risible category for whom to propose legal protection suggests to me that he really doesn't know what he's talking about, as they need it more than almost any other group I can think of.)

I could happily spend this post listing all the stuff Liddle's got wrong, but, as they say in Eastenders, he's not worth it. My only worry is that The Spectator is still read in certain parts of the Tory party, and the contemptuous tone of Liddle's article may leach into the soil on which its bovine subconscious grazes.

Even so, he raises a question I've never quite settled in my own mind - which is the justification (or not) for hate crime laws. Sometimes I lean in one direction, sometimes in the other. I suppose I don't feel as strongly about making a victim's trans status an aggravating factor in cases of murder, as I do about its not being used as a mitigation, as it regularly has been.

Off the top of my head, I can think of four types of argument for hate crime laws, but I'm not entirely convinced by any of them...

First, there's the argument of lack of provocation. A lot of the reports about the Stephen Lawrence case, for example, have stressed that he was murdered, not because of anything he did to provoke his attackers, but simply because he was black. I agree this makes it worse, but then why wasn't "lack of provocation" the aggravating factor, rather than the victim's race? People have been murdered because they were wearing a nice watch, or the wrong team's football scarf, or at random - none of which is (in the usual way of things) considered provocative. But all these would of course fall outside the hate crimes legislation. So there must be more to it...

Next, there's the argument of vulnerability. Most hate crime legislation applies to particular minorities, and minorities are, in general, more vulnerable than majorities, which might make legislators want to go the extra mile to protect them. But a similar objection applies: why not make the vulnerability of the victim an aggravating factor, rather than their membership of a group on a designated list? Children and nonegenarians are vulnerable too, and I'd hope that their murder would be treated more harshly on those grounds, but in neither case would it be considered a hate crime.

Then, there's the argument of intimidation. Murdering a member of a vulnerable group (and particularly a small, easily identifiable group), has a disproportionate effect on the other members of that group. Murder two trans women in one town, and all the rest are victims too. I have more sympathy with this argument, but I'm still uneasy about setting out in law criteria that protect some such groups and not others. For example, violence against women has meant that women in general are far more intimidated about walking the streets at night alone than are men. There are plenty of misogynists out there: by this rule, shouldn't women as a group be protected by hate crime legislation?

Finally, there's the argument of social policy, which is that by making crimes against a persecuted group more severely punishable, you help over time to change attitudes at large. My problems with this are two-fold. First, I'm not convinced that it works: arguably it just gives fuckwits like Liddle a chance to whinge about how poor a hand life has dealt him (c.f. BNP candidates complaining about how the immigrants shoot to the top of the housing queue). Secondly, I think the justice system should be used to punish individuals for their own crimes, not also for other people's possible future crimes, which is what this would, I think, amount to.

As you can see, I have problems with this whole area, but many people I respect do believe in the hate crime principle, and I'm more than willing to believe that I've missed an important argument somewhere along the line. Feel free to enlighten me.

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"whinge"

When you say that, do you pronounce the g at all?

Yes, to rhyme with "hinge".

Rod Liddle is Old Labour. And is at the Speccie precisely to put an Old Labour view. Similar platforms are afforded the (Labourish factional) views of those non-Tories, Martin Bright and Nick Cohen.

As to the other point, and subject to correction by truly learned friends, the problem in applying hate crimes legislation - as opposed to the principle - is, or so I hear from America, where it has been in place long enough to tell, that it adds yet another burden of proof upon the prosecution. Prosecutors are said to dislike it accordingly. I shall ask MSP for further details from his lawyering days.

And, really: 'bovine subconscious'? Rather cheap, wasn't that.

Yes, indeed, Liddle claims to be Labour of some variety, I believe. (Then again, Julie Bindel claims to be a radical feminist, and she's published similar tosh in Standpoint.)

That would be very helpful - re. the experience from the US.

Rather cheap, wasn't that.

A little, perhaps. I will freely add that ruminant ids are to be found in abundance across the political spectrum.

I admit that I don't like the idea that murdering person X is intrinsically worse than murdering person Y. I suppose it's intended to send a message, but I would prefer things to be taken on a case by case basis and people sentenced according to the merits of each case.

That's certainly my initial reaction too.

While I tend to have the same issues as you with 'making people good by act of parliament' and would tend to agree with _heleninwales_ that murder is murder and cannot in a sense be intrinsically worse because committed upon a member of a given minority, I also happen to be a member of one of those minorities and one of the smallest. The issue is more about protection for groups perceived as being 'at risk'. If the murder rate of cis woman was statistically equivalent to that of trans women, we'd be in the middle of a moral and social panic right about now. Making hateful garbage like 'before and after' photos, operative status and the 'trans panic' defence inadmissible (as the latter now is in the UK) would in many ways be far more effective that increased sentences.

Making hateful garbage like 'before and after' photos, operative status and the 'trans panic' defence inadmissible (as the latter now is in the UK) would in many ways be far more effective that increased sentences.

Agreed.

Thank you. I'm one of those people who always thinks a decent judge does better at determining mitigating and egregious circumstances than mandatory minimums.

While I want inclusion in hate crime legislation, I also want its abolition.

While I want inclusion in hate crime legislation, I also want its abolition.

Nicely put!

Edited 2012-01-12 11:52 (UTC)

Defences used to be based on lack of motivation ie "Why would I do that? I didn't know the guy! There was no reason for me to do it." The new laws recognised that there was a kind of motivation that was impersonal.

And frankly, yes, women should be protected by hate crimes legislation; until the review of the rape laws recently it was still perfectly ok to offer the defence "but I thought she was just pretending to resist".

The reason for these laws is simple: to explain to those with power that they cannot do what they think they are entitled to do.

The new laws recognised that there was a kind of motivation that was impersonal.

I agree of course that this kind of motivation should be recognized, but I don't see that recognizing the existence of racism, homophobia, etc., entails that crimes motivated by these should receive a larger tariff, above and beyond that already triggered by the aggravation of an attack's being unprovoked.

The reason for these laws is simple: to explain to those with power that they cannot do what they think they are entitled to do.

Again, I'm all for explaining this, but I don't think that sentencing is necessarily the clearest or most just way to deliver the explanation. It's unclear because (a la Liddle) it can so easily be spun as "special treatment for minorities"; unjust because it means that part of the sentence isn't a punishment for the crime committed, but an extra "message" for society at large that you want to broadcast on top.

Yes, but bad defenses, trans panic included, fail at the point where there's enough societal awareness to support a hate crime law... in fact they don't so much fail as they backfire... that's the true test of societal tolerance, when a prejudice-panic defense actually improves the liklihood of conviction and additional sentencing.

I came back to read the arguments, but you seem to have only drawn out those who agree with you. I'm another of those who can't fathom the logic or usefulness of hate crime laws.

(Also unable to fathom the logic or usefulness of Rod Liddle.)

I came back to read the arguments, but you seem to have only drawn out those who agree with you.

I'm actually rather surprised by this.

Hate Crimes

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