Hate Crime and the Law (M3103)

15 credits, Level 6

Autumn teaching

The term "hate crime" has caused immense controversy within jurisdictions across the world. While most people will have heard of the term, its meaning frequently differs between and among legal practitioners, scholars and legislators.

This module begins by examining how this invidious form of offending has been conceptualised by criminologists and lawyers alike. The module then focuses on how governments have focused on the use of criminal law in order to combat hate-motivated offences. The aim is to challenge you to think about the role of criminal law in preventing and punishing hate crime offenders. Key questions will be explored, such as:

• What do we mean when we say an offender "demonstrates" or is "motivated" by hate?
• How do we differentiate between hate offences and other forms of crime?
• How can "hate" (a type of motive) be successfully attached to the mens rea element of a criminal offence?

The module will then look at the main arguments for and against the implementation of hate crime laws, focusing in particular on retributive and consequentialist punishment theories, as well as civil rights principles such as freedom of speech. You then move on to look at the different types of laws that have been established by the UK government over the past 15 years including:

• racially and religiously aggravated offences such as assault and criminal damage
• incitement to hatred laws
• sentencing provisions used to enhance the punishments of hate crime offenders.

In the second part of the module, you’ll look at the different types of hate crime that the law currently proscribes including racist, anti-religious, homophobic, transphobic and disablist offences. Why are these characteristics protected by hate crime laws while other group identities are not? In particular, we’ll examine whether gendered violence (focusing in particular on the offence of rape) is a "hate crime". You’ll work on presenting arguments for and against the inclusion of "gender" under hate crime laws.

Finally, the module will look at what other justice interventions can be used to respond to hate crime, including whether restorative justice is a more suitable tool for combating the causes and effects of crimes that involve identity-related prejudices.

Contact hours and workload

This module is approximately 150 hours of work. This breaks down into about 20 hours of contact time and about 130 hours of independent study. The University may make minor variations to the contact hours for operational reasons, including timetabling requirements.

We regularly review our modules to incorporate student feedback, staff expertise, as well as the latest research and teaching methodology. We’re planning to run these modules in the academic year 2025/26. However, there may be changes to these modules in response to feedback, staff availability, student demand or updates to our curriculum.

We’ll make sure to let you know of any material changes to modules at the earliest opportunity.