The Lifecycle of a Hate Crime project is a two-year EU-DG Justice funded project that examines the application of criminal laws and sentencing provisions for hate crime in the United Kingdom as part of a five-country project (also including the Czech Republic, Ireland, Latvia, Sweden).
It aims to capture best practice and the limitations in the tools used to combat hate crime across Europe, as it relates to strategies of legal intervention and the implementation of these rules.
We are exploring the manner in which legislation operates in practice from the perspective of two primary target groups:
- Actors in the criminal justice system, which include prosecutors, defence lawyers and judges
- Victims and offenders of hate crime.
In-depth qualitative interviews are being conducted with key actors in the criminal justice system for the purpose of gathering tacit information on, and informed insights into, the day to day operation of the criminal justice system in relation to hate crimes.
In particular, these interviews will be essential to revealing disjunctures between stated policy and day to day practice, and consequences for the prosecution of hate crime.
In addition, we are analysing Crown Court Sentencing Survey data gathered from 1 October 2010 to 31 March 2015, as well as undertaking a review of over 100 reported cases involving hate crime offences.
Researchers
The Lifecycle of a Hate Crime Project (England and Wales) is based at the University of Sussex and its members include:
- Dr Mark Walters, Principal Investigator
- Dr Susann Wiedlitzka, Research Fellow
- Dr Abenaa Owusu-Bempah, Co-Investigator