NCJ Number
229237
Journal
British Journal of Criminology Volume: 49 Issue: 6 Dated: November 2009 Pages: 755-771
Date Published
November 2009
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This article examines offenders' attitudes toward racially motivated offenses.
Abstract
As psychosocial research, a case study involving a racially motivated offense is examined and an in-depth case study analysis provided. Using the narrative accounts of one man convicted of perpetrating a racially aggravated assault, findings show how important it is to engage with the complexity of motivation as it is perceived by offenders and the necessity of developing analytic approaches capable of transcending what offenders say about their attitudes toward race. Because the number of convicted racially motivated offenders attending probation offices at any given time is always small and the difficulties of confronting racism are large, the probation service has started to look away from specialist accredited racially motivated offender programs and towards developing the kind of one-to-one work that the majority of offenders benefit from. How exactly racism should be tackled in one-to-one work remains unclear, however, with numerous commentators identifying offender needs that cannot be reduced to enhancing cognitive, social, and employability skills. References