Criminology Seminar Series - Challenging Hate Crime in Challenging Times
When:
—
Venue:
Birkbeck Main Building, Malet Street
Challenging Hate Crime in Challenging Times
Speaker: Professor Neil Chakraborti (University of Leicester)
The need for improved support for victims of hate crime has become all the more apparent at a time when numbers of incidents have risen to record levels, both within the UK and beyond. This sharp increase – and the associated rise in tensions, scapegoating and hostility towards ‘difference’ that accompanies such an increase – casts doubt over the effectiveness of existing measures and their capacity to protect victims from the harms associated with hate crime.
Drawing from extensive engagement with more than 2,000 victims of hate crime across a range of recent research projects, Professor Chakraborti identifies a series of failings in relation to dismantling barriers to reporting, prioritising meaningful engagement with diverse communities and delivering effective criminal justice interventions. In doing so, he illustrates how those failings exacerbate the sense of alienation felt by victims from a diverse range of backgrounds and communities, and compound the physical and emotional harms that victims will already have to contend with as part of the process of experiencing hate crime. Within this context he identifies ways in which academics, policy-makers, practitioners and activists can reach beyond their own echo chambers to connect with ‘real-world’ hate crime experiences, and calls for urgent action to plug the ever-widening chasm between state-level narratives and victims’ lived realities.
About the Speaker
Neil Chakraborti is a Professor of Criminology, Head of School and Director of the Centre for Hate Studies at the University of Leicester. He has authored more than 50 peer-reviewed publications within the field of hate crime and has been commissioned by numerous funding bodies including the Economic and Social Research Council, Amnesty International and the Equality and Human Rights Commission to lead research studies which have shaped hate crime policy and scholarship. He is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology; series editor of Palgrave Hate Studies; Chair of the Research Advisory Group at the Howard League for Penal Reform; and sits on the Advisory Boards of Tell MAMA, the International Network for Hate Studies and the British Society of Criminology Hate Crime Network. His latest book, co-authored with Dr Stevie-Jade Hardy and entitled ‘Blood, Threats and Fears: The Hidden Worlds of Hate Crime Victims’, was published in January 2020 by Palgrave Macmillan.
About the Criminology Seminar Series
In line with the School of Law, Birkbeck's research and teaching ethos, the Criminology Seminar Series aims to provide a platform for critical and interdisciplinary research, showcasing prominent and path-breaking research on crime, criminal justice and related themes by scholars from within and beyond Birkbeck. The series is convened by Dr Sappho Xenakis, School of Law, Birkbeck.
Attendance to the events is free but registration is required. Talks from the 2019/20 series will be available for download via the website. Find out more about the series here. The hashtag for the event is #BBKCrimSeries.
This event is open to the public and free to attend however booking is required via this page. We kindly request that if you are unable to attend that you cancel your booking in order to allow others to attend.
Latecomers to the event are not guaranteed entry. Please be advised that photographs may be taken at the event.
Please contact us if you have any access requirements. See here for further details of accessibility at Birkbeck venues. Food and drink may be served at this event. Please contact us if you have any allergies that we may need to consider.
Contact name:
School of Law