Between hate and vulnerability: unpacking the British criminal justice system’s construction of disablist hate crime

Abstract

Hate crime is now an established term in the fields of racist and religious attacks and is acknowledged in the cultural proscription against attacks on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender men and women. Disabled people, as so often is the case, are late in being afforded statutory recognition in hate crime. This can be explained in terms of wider constructions of disability and more pernicious and muddled constructions of disabled people as categorically ‘Vulnerable’. This construction has arguably weakened the impetus to introducing hate crime provisions and legal justice for disabled people. There is now ample evidence of hate crime being evident and pervasive in the lives of many disabled people. By drawing on two English studies of disablist hate crime, this paper draws out key aspects of hate crime policy and practice, and challenges the constructions of disability, hate and vulnerability currently operating.

Keywords:

• disabled people
• hate crime
• legal constructs
• policy improvement

Notes

1. A good definition of the function of third party (non‐policing) reporting centres is provided by the English Metropolitan (London) police force as: Third Party Reporting encourages the reporting of hate crime by providing support for the victim through a partnership of relevant specialist agencies, and can done without revealing the victim’s personal details. Only with the victim’s consent will police be contacted to investigate the crime (Metropolitan Police Authority 2010).