Marian Duggan

Victims as vote-winners? The antisocial behaviour/ hate crime nexus

Antisocial behaviour (ASB) and hate crime have a number of connections: both are relatively recent notions, both are underpinned by their subjective nature and both have laid the foundational concepts for reimagining the ‘victim’ in the criminal justice system. Over the past two decades, victims of crime and ASB have been promoted to the forefront of criminal justice policy developments. The status of victims has been elevated, but in a prescriptive manner that determines the most appropriate course of action. This paper explores whether continued efforts by the coalition to elevate victims’ status will actually benefit victims, or are a case of political posturing to secure the populist law and order vote, using the ASB/hate crime nexus as an example.

Heteronormativity and the Inverted Relationship between Sociopolitical and Legislative Approaches to Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Hate Crime

The island of Ireland is unusual in that Northern Ireland has had hate crime legislation in place for several years, while across the border in the Republic, virtually no laws exist to recognise or address crimes based on prejudice or hostility. Recently, the Republic of Ireland administration has come under growing pressure to enact ‘hate crime’ legislation in line with the North, the UK and several of its European counterparts (Schweppe et al. 2014, 2015). However, as this chapter will illustrate, criminalisation is often the basis upon which claims for social change are founded but legislation must not be viewed as a panacea when it comes to the prevention of or protection from targeted victimisation. In order for the law to be effective (and not viewed as tokenistic), analysing the factors informing and sustaining prejudice in a particular society may provide greater insights into how best to challenge it.

Victim hierarchies in the domestic violence disclosure scheme

Since its national implementation in March 2014, the UK Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme (also known as ‘Clare’s Law’) has enabled thousands of people in England and Wales to seek information from the police about whether their partner has a history of domestically abusive behaviours. Politicians have hailed the policy on the basis that it empowers people to make informed choices about their safety, thus representing a vital part of wider domestic violence reduction strategies. This, of course, is all dependent upon people knowing the policy exists; being able to apply to it; meeting the relevant criteria; there being information to disclose; and this being relayed to the applicant accordingly. Drawing on empirical research into the policy’s operation in one policing area, this paper highlights several discrepancies with respect to how the scheme is functioning. The analysis suggests that the hierarchical, two-tier approach to implementation is impacting on displaced responsibility and potential risk enhancement, while the symbolic mobilisation of domestic violence victims for contemporary political gain is also explored. The paper concludes with suggestions for reform to boost the ability of the policy to prevent domestic violence and abuse.

Prioritized Political Focus: ASB and Hate Crime

Chapter 3 adopts a prioritized focus on ASB and hate crime policy to investigate contemporary policy developments in light of the ‘victim-focused’ rhetoric espoused by the Coalition government. A critical overview of political interventions in these areas illustrates how right-realist ideology is informing enhanced criminalization or control under the guise of being victim-focused. The near-farcical fluctuation in political responses to ASB has been echoed by the conveyer-belt approach to defining acronyms designed to be synonymous with this particular Coalition government, whilst recent proposals to enhance and extend hate crime sanctions indicate that policy approaches remain responsive, as opposed to preventative, in this domain

Victims as Vote Winners

Chapter 2 explores the notion of victims as vote winners to evaluate the recent socio-political context in which policies and practices concerning victims have emerged. The Coalition government’s neoliberal agenda is explored in relation to its impact on victims’ services and the increasing politicization of victimization. The analysis of victims’ ‘figureheads’ invokes earlier considerations of governance and responsibility to assess the impact these figureheads have on victims. This ‘politicization’ critique suggests that a strategic co-opting of victims’ issues may be warranted in light of a need to deflect public attention away from a growing media interest in ‘political deviance’ illustrated through government ministers’ engagement in fraudulently claiming expenses.