Hate Crimes and Masculinity: New Crimes, New Responses and Some Familiar Patterns

• NCJ Number: 191664
• Author(s): Stephen Tomsen
• Date Published: 2000
• Length: 11 pages
• Corporate Author: Australian Institute of Criminology
• Sale Source: Australian Institute of Criminology
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: Australia
• Note: Paper presented at the 4th National Outlook Symposium on Crime in Australia, New Crimes or New Responses convened by the Australian Institute of Criminology and held in Canberra 21-22 June 2001. Downloaded October 8, 2001

Annotation

This paper examines the current research on anti-homosexual and race-related crime committed by working class and socially disadvantaged males. The relationship between hates crimes and the more general dilemma of reducing crime rates of young men is also examined.

Abstract

Since the 1980's, hate crime has become a commonplace term in North America and Europe. Among community activists and a growing number of researchers, journalists, politicians and policymakers, the term has served as a shorthand means of referring to crime of violence, abuse and harassment that are motivated by bias against minorities (racial, ethnic, sexual and religious). But hate crime is a problematic term that may narrowly represent criminal motive and simplify the interpretation of offender and victim. It is argued that prejudice towards racial and sexual minorities is instrumental, linked to the attainment of social forms of desired masculine identity. To illustrate this point, the author identified his own study of 74 homicides with anti-homosexual motives occurring in New South Wales since 1980. The involvement of disadvantaged young men in these crimes suggested the fundamental relevance of wider structural factors (social class, family poverty and youth disadvantage) in issues of criminal offending. Despite the conceptual usefulness of talking about hate crimes and the specific forms of social acceptance and encouragement that such attacks against minority groups receive, these incidents cannot be wholly separated from the wider discussions about criminal offending and prevention. The social characteristics of offenders and circumstances of offending signal that racial, ethnic, sexual and religious minorities--the victims of hate crimes--have a real stake in the effectiveness of wider community strategies in crime prevention. Such strategies might include anti-poverty and family support measures, initiatives in disadvantaged boys’ schooling, or employment and diversion programs for young men that challenge destructive ideas of masculinity. Notes, references