The people or the place? An analysis of the protective factors of hate crime in multiethnic neighbourhoods in Australia

Hate crime creates significant problems for individual victims and the social fabric of a community more broadly. Victimisation is most likely to occur around the victim's own neighbourhood, yet few studies examine how the neighbourhood context influences hate crime. This study uses data from the Australian Community Capacity Study involving 4,400 participants in 148 neighbourhoods in Brisbane. It examines whether it is characteristics of place (such as attitudes toward diversity, place attachment and social cohesion) that reduce hate crime, or whether it is interactions with fellow residents (such as frequency of neighbourly exchanges, number of friends, and number of acquaintances in the neighbourhood) that shelter residents from hate crime. Results demonstrate that characteristics of a place provide important protective factors against hate crime in the neighbourhood, rather than the number of social‐interactions between residents.     

Individual perceptions and the social construction of hate crimes: A factorial survey

Although the rapid diffusion of hate crime legislation since the 1980s indicates widespread success of the antiviolence movement at the policy level, effective responses to hate crimes – such as reporting incidents to authorities – are partly contingent on how individuals initially interpret potential incidents. This paper investigates the degree to which individuals’ perceptions of concrete events of harassment and violence mirror the interpretive frameworks offered by proponents of hate crime legislation. Specifically, the study examines the determinants of definitions of hate crime and perceptions of seriousness, focusing on both incident-level and respondent-level variables. Using data from a multilevel factorial survey gathered from a sample of undergraduates, I find a general alignment between the political construction of hate crimes and college student perceptions of incidents of harassment and violence, although sensitivity to hate crimes varies by witness demographic and attitudinal characteristic.     

Measuring Gay Populations and Antigay Hate Crime

Objectives . The study of crime directed at gay and lesbian targets is hampered by two measurement problems: Police agencies provide unreliable data on hate crime, and tract-level census data contain no direct information about gay or lesbian population density. This article attempts to gauge two quantities that cannot be measured directly or unambiguously: the size of the gay and lesbian populations and the number of hate crimes directed at gay and lesbian targets. Methods . Population data for New York City were gathered from market research lists and from a special tabulation of the 1990 Census. Hate crime data were obtained from the Anti-Violence Project and the New York Police Department. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to assess the reliability of each measure and the correlation between latent population density and hate crime. Results . Each of these measures offers a reliable means by which to assess cross-sectional differences in the population density and victimization of gay men. Census and police data prove to be inferior indicators of lesbian population density and antilesbian hate crime. For both men and women, population density is strongly correlated with the incidence of hate crime. Conclusions . Despite the fact that advocacy groups record many more antigay incidents than do the police, both sources of data are in agreement about where hate crimes occur. The strong correlation between population density and hate crime against gay men implies that Census data could be used to forecast the occurrence of hate crime in areas where no police records exist.     

Opposition to the Legitimacy of Hate Crime Laws: The Role of Argument Acceptance, Knowledge, Individual Differences, and Peer Influence

Hate crime laws are a highly controversial legal approach in society's response to intergroup violence. Argument acceptance, knowledge, and individual differences were examined in relationship to attitudes about these laws. These variables were also considered in terms of efforts to influence a peer's beliefs about hate crime laws. One-hundred and sixty-seven participants completed a measure of knowledge of human rights laws, Gough's Pr scale, the Selznick and Steinberg anti-Semitism scale, and Cuellar's Machismo scale. Hate crime attitudes were measured on an affect rating scale and six statements reflecting arguments favoring and opposing hate crime laws. Peer influence was examined on Interpersonal Power Inventory (IPI). Results showed that while most participants endorsed positive attitudes about hate crime laws, men—and both women and men who endorsed machismo attitudes—were more likely to agree with media distortion and identity politics arguments opposing hate crime laws. The Pr and machismo scales predicted greater effort on the IPI to influence peer attitudes about hate crime laws, after controlling for demographic differences of the participants. These findings indicate that more explicitly biased individuals were more effortful in trying to change the attitudes of peers concerning the legitimacy of hate crime laws.     

Hate Crime Offenders: An Expanded Typology

Little research has been conducted to determine the motivations of hate crime offenders. This article builds on an earlier work of J. Levin and McDevitt (1993) in which a typology of offender motivations was first articulated. We reanalyze 169 Boston police case files that were originally studied in order to provide empirical grounding for the typology. In this updated study, characteristics of the three original motives—thrill, defensive, and mission—are examined in relation to a new category: retaliatory motivation. In addition, the article addresses the issue of levels of culpability in explaining the most appropriate sanctions for certain kinds of hate offenders.     

Indian student concerns about violence: exploring student perceptions

While considerable attention has been given to the spate of attacks on Indian students in Australia in 2009 and 2010, less attention has been paid to how the students who were at the centre of the furore perceived the violence. In this paper we explore the perceptions of Indian postgraduate and undergraduate male students studying in Melbourne, Australia, based on data gathered in focus groups. Analysis revealed four broad themes in students' explanations for the attacks: race hate versus opportunism, intercultural issues, systemic ineffectiveness, and media reporting. Students' perceptions of the reasons for the attacks were divided in some areas and aligned in others. There was divergence among students about whether the attacks were race hate crime or opportunistic, and about intercultural issues. Students' perceptions were aligned on issues of systemic ineffectiveness and media reporting. In the current context of decreased international enrolments from Indian students, in which we seek to better understand them, the findings provide implications for international student policy and planning priorities.     

A comment on ‘Climate change: Social workers’ roles and contributions to policy debates and interventions'

Peeters J. A comment on ‘Climate change: Social workers’ roles and contributions to policy debates and interventions' In this commenting article, I present several critical remarks about Lena Dominelli's contribution to the issue of climate change and its implications for social work. 1 In my view, her article lacks three important considerations. First, I argue that the issue of climate change should be addressed as part of a broader, fundamental challenge: the transition of the growth‐based economic system upon which our society is built. Second, within a context of social and ecological injustice, dealing with climate change inevitably requires a dimension of social struggle. Third and lastly, I emphasise social work's role in challenging the social, political and economic structures and processes that bring about climate change.     

The New Social Policy in Britain

This paper starts from the proposition that approaches to crime and penal policy in contemporary Britain are of a piece with approaches to social policy across a number of fronts. "The New Social Policy" is examined in terms of "the stakeholder idea", its implications for how people are meant to behave, and the distance between this and socio-economic realities. The paper then explores various sectors of stakeholder social policy in their new order of importance—employment and training, education, health care, social care, housing, social security—before commenting on policies in respect of crime and crime prevention, in the light of the foregoing observations and with particular reference to the "lock-'em-up" tendency. The paper concludes that stakeholdership is no recipe for crime prevention.     

From Slavery to Hate Crime Laws: The Emergence of Race and Status-Based Protection in American Criminal Law

Criminal laws that punish discriminatory "hate crime" offenses relating to race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, and other status characteristics trace their roots back to the nation's founding. Unlike today, in early America, status distinctions in law, particularly racial ones, were intended to restrict the exercise of civil rights. Today's hate crime laws are the refined modern progeny of an important class of remedial post–Civil War laws and constitutional amendments. Although the Supreme Court has vigorously upheld enhanced punishment for hate crimes over the last decade, it has also established restrictions on the government's authority to punish bigoted conduct and expression. This article examines, through an analysis of historic cases, laws, and constitutional changes, the legal evolution that culminated in the passage of modern hate crime laws.     

Research Misconduct and Crime Lessons from Criminal Science on Preventing Misconduct and Promoting Integrity

Crime is naught but misdirected energy. So long as every institution of today, economic, political, social, and moral, conspires to misdirect human energy into wrong channels; so long as most people are out of place doing the things they hate to do, living a life they loathe to live, crime will be inevitable.

Emma Goldman, Anarchism and Other Essays

For 200 years, criminologists theorized that delinquent and criminal acts arise from deviant psychological states (such as irrationality or immorality) and/or social conditions that produce these psychological states. This theoretical perspective, which is being duplicated in most efforts to understand and control research misconduct, has not been productive. More recently, criminological perspectives have emerged, emphasizing situational factors that enhance or restrict the opportunity for illegal or imprudent behavior. These so-called “opportunity” theories have been shown to have practical value in reducing crime rates. We explore the promise of these newer theories for the responsible conduct of research (RCR).     

Framing the Other: Criminality, Social Exclusion and Social Engineering in Developing Singapore

This paper examines the issue of criminality as it is expressed in social policy in Singapore. This small South-east Asian country is characterized by great social and ethnic diversity, high rates of economic growth, but low crime rates. The relationship between these is pursued by examining the authoritarian political system and the social policies that have arisen from this to socialize and discipline the ethnically disparate and class-divided population. A brief survey of the social structure of Singapore, the role of colonialism in shaping the legal system, the legal measures introduced during the pre-independent anti-colonial and anti-communist struggles and the adoption of many of these by the new government of independent Singapore as weapons of social control introduces the paper. This is followed by an examination of the single-minded pursuit of developmentalism and security in the post-independent period and of the emergence of crime in political discourse as the paradigm of social disorder and self-exclusion from the developmental state, and the relationship of these to the dominant political problem of the management of ethnicity and social differences expressed as concern with classification, a commitment to socio-biology and the constant attempts to define a field of "Asian values" based on a local reading of Confucianism as the basis of social cohesion. The essay concludes with a discussion of the relationship between Singaporean images of social order and the pursuit of a distinctive form of positivist modernism and the question of whether a "Singapore model" is applicable elsewhere in the world.     

Introduction to the Social and Psychological Dynamics of Collective Action

Collective action is one of the core mechanisms of social change, and thus of major importance to social scientists, practitioners, and policy-makers. Our goal in editing this issue is to bring together recent advances on the social and psychological dynamics of collective action among members of disadvantaged as well as advantaged groups. This article introduces the contributions to this issue after a brief review of the major psychological perspectives on collective action (social identity, relative deprivation, and resource mobilization theories), and a discussion of the considerable diversity in collective action research in terms of contexts, populations, and measures. We hope that this issue contributes to a more multi-faceted and integrative understanding of the social and psychological dynamics of collective action in terms of theory, research, policy, and practice.     

ECONOMIC RATIONALISM VERSUS THE COMMUNITY: REFLECTIONS ON SOCIAL DEMOCRACY AND STATE CAPACITY

In the context of calls for a ‘third way’ which proposes the abandonment of many of the social democratic and statist commitments of the postwar era, this paper reviews both the responsibilities accepted by peak bodies such as ACOSS and those that ought to be retained by government. It is sceptical of claims that social policy debates in Australia lead to the conclusion that welfare state development here has been satisfactory. Social democratic objectives (derived from intellectual contributions in the 1940s and 1950s as well as from the comparative political economy of the 1980s and 1990s) emphasize more decommodified provision of services than can be readily admitted in Australia. If the demand for social welfare and social policy continues to increase to the extent suggested by past and present circumstances, serious implications emerge for both public and private providers.     

Houses with elastic walls: negotiating home and homelessness within the policy domain

Efforts to address homelessness in New Zealand are marked by competing discourses that construct it as a housing issue, or more radically, as an issue of social exclusion. This paper presents a case study that illustrates the difficulties of reconciling these discourses when framing homelessness policy. Research was conducted with a national organisation involved in advocating to the New Zealand government on homelessness policy. Members of this group participated in focus groups exploring the meanings of home, homelessness and their advocacy work. The paper traces the challenges presented to the politics of social action by recognising homelessness as an issue of social exclusion, but needing to frame it as an issue of housing to effect policy change. It argues that social activist groups must routinely make pragmatic and strategic compromises that challenge the integrity of their ideological positions and their conceptual understandings, and develop group practices that allow them to resolve the tensions that this can generate.     

Introduction to the Issue

Gordon Willard Allport was born more than 100 years ago on November 11, 1897. In honor of the centennial of his birth, this issue of the Journal presents a collection of articles on the social psychology of prejudice and intergroup relations—the field that Allport pioneered with his classic 1954 book, The Nature of Prejudice. The articles provide insights into both perpetrators and targets of prejudice and the conflict that often takes place between members of different societal groups. In the tradition of Gordon Allport, these articles demonstrate that it is possible for social science to make theoretical, empirical, and practical contributions to the understanding and resolution of social problems. This introductory article high-lights Allport's contributions to the social psychology of prejudice and intergroup relations. Overviews of the articles in this issue are also provided, and the recurring theoretical and methodological approaches are considered.     

Tracing the contours of postmodern social work

Summary Postmodern ideas and the ferment of debate generated by themcontinue to influence and challenge social work policy and practice.Recent discourses within the social science literature haverarely acknowledged earlier contributions concerning the developmentof social work in the context of the debate between modernistand postmodernist epistemology. This paper examines some ofthe links between earlier and more contemporary ideas, and inso doing highlights their complementary nature and the potentialcontributions they offer to the shape and texture of socialwork in the future as it seeks to define itself in a postmodernworld. Examining these debates in this way enables them to beperceived as helpful resources for social workers to draw upon,rather than choices from which to exclude. It is therefore possibleto begin to map the contours of changing practice as it evolveswhilst understanding something of its origins, traditions andconnections. This paper concludes by recommending a broaderintellectual panorama and less allegiance to opposing theoreticalpositions by social work policy makers and practitioners whofeel constrained to choose between either postmodernist or modernistepistemology.     

Stress and Pressures in Mental Health Social Work: The Worker Speaks

Two-thirds of councils with social services responsibilities(CSSRs) took part in a UK survey of mental health social workers.A one in five sample of front line workers was drawn, and 237respondents completed a questionnaire and diary about theirwork context and content, and their attitudes to their work,their employer, mental health policy and the place of mentalhealth social work in modernized mental health services. Thequestions, that called for free-text responses, were completedin detail and at length. This paper reports the results of aqualitative analysis of these responses using NVIVO software.The paper is structured around the themes emerging from theanalysis: pressure of work; staffing matters; job satisfactionand well-being; recruitment and retention issues; and beingvalued. The conclusions are that the social workers value faceto face contact with service users, and that their commitmentto service users is an important factor in staff retention.The most unsatisfactory aspects of their work context arisefrom not feeling valued by their employers and wider society,and some of the most satisfactory from the support of colleaguesand supervisors. Without attention to these factors, recruitmentand retention problems will remain an unresolved issue.     

Social work in South Africa at the dawn of the new millennium

The article examines recent developments in social policy and its implications for social work education and practice in South Africa. It traces the changes from the birth of democracy in South Africa to the dawn of the new millennium as these crucial years marked the beginning of a new era in South Africa's welfare history. It examines the challenges to social work and provides an example of the integrated, holistic developmental interventions, which are needed to combat social problems such as crime, AIDS and poverty. It ends with an examination of the implications of developmental welfare policy for social–work education as social workers are called to address mass poverty, unemployment and social deprivation through greater use of diverse social work methods, such as advocacy, community development, empowerment, consultation, networking, action research and policy analysis.     

The Negative Effects of Populism on Gay and Lesbian Rights*

Objective. The objective of this article is to examine the degree to which populist features of state governments affect minority interests, particularly gays, lesbians, and bisexuals (GLB) Method. We examine the effects of specific institutional features that affect state government responsiveness to majority preferences on GLB policies: bans on same‐sex marriage and hate crime. We also control for variations in political environment. Results. Features that increase popular control over policy making and policymakers advance anti‐GLB policies but have little effect on pro‐GLB policies; however, legislative term limits have the opposite effect. Further, constituency size and senators' term length increases both types of policies. Conclusions. The findings indicate that an unpopular minority is likely to be harmed by populist features that increase the role of citizens and may be helped by features that shield legislators from majoritarian preferences.     

Moving towards hybridity in causal explanation: The example of citizen participation

The puzzle of causal explanation is a core issue for social science. Searches for causal patterns can be overly mechanistic, seen for example in the desire for the magic bullet in policy, or the lionising of the celebrity policy interventions of the moment. Emphasis in policy interventions on transferable practice is often dismissed as naive for failing to recognise the importance of context, contingency, and complexity. However, a focus on highly context‐specific narratives, drawn from single cases, can be equally problematic and exacerbate rather than help the problem of reification of knowledge. This paper makes a reflective theoretical contribution to the debate on the need to tackle the dilemma of contingency versus certainty in causal explanation in the social sciences. It attempts to address this issue through the lens of a specific concrete puzzle of explanation; that of citizen participation in policy. Citizen participation is a salient policy topic, which demands a thorough understanding of causation. Using extended empirical examples of citizen participation in policy serves to highlight the intractability of different traditions of causal explanation and grounds the need for greater compatibility in approaches. The paper then offers two propositions centring on the notions of transdisciplinarity and hybridity in research practices and methodologies. It concludes with a discussion of more and less desirable forms of hybridity.