Meeting perpetrators face-to-face helps victims of hate crime to heal, according to new research findings in a Sussex academic’s new book. Addressing the causes and consequences of hate crime via mediation stops it occurring in most ongoing cases and often helps to repair the harm it causes, found Dr Mark Walters, Lecturer in Law at the University of Sussex and Co-Director of the International Network for Hate Studies.
Dr Walters spent 18 months talking to victims of hate crime, police officers and restorative justice practitioners about their experiences. The findings are published for the first time in Hate Crime and Restorative Justice: Exploring causes, repairing harms.
Looking at cases involving racism, homophobia, anti-religious prejudice and disablism, the book explores the effectiveness of restorative justice. This often involves victims and offenders coming face-to-face with one another in a mediated meeting. Dr Walters found that mediation has a largely beneficial impact with regard to hate crime in London. He found that:
The majority of victim participants of mediation stated that the process directly improved their emotional wellbeing.
Most participants indicated that their levels of anger, anxiety and fear were reduced directly after the mediation process. The two most common reasons for these improvements were:
participants felt they could play an active part in their own conflict resolution by explaining to the perpetrator the harms he or she had caused and what it is like for them to be “different” in the community
the perpetrator signed an agreement promising to desist from further hate incidents.
Seventeen out of 19 separate cases of ongoing hate crime incidents researched in London ceased directly after the mediation process had taken place.
However, restorative policing measures used for low-level offences – which often amount to no more than an apology from the perpetrator – are less effective and left some victims feeling ‘let down’ by the police.
Research conducted in Devon and Cornwall found that nearly half of those interviewed about restorative policing were not satisfied with the outcome. Several participants felt pressured by the police to agree to the intervention, and most victims felt that the apology they received from the offender was disingenuous.
Dr Walters suggests that police and other justice agencies should work together in these situations. He says: “A multi-agency approach to hate crime led by restorative practitioners, that brought various agencies together to help support victims and manage offending, provided the most effective response to tackling both the causes and consequences of hate crime victimisation.”
Dr Walters’ book also uncovers new information about the nature of hate crime, identifying three main types of prejudice-motivated offences:
Hate crimes committed as one-off incidents, often committed by young perpetrators out late at night while intoxicated – incidents often occurred during a customer/service transaction such as in takeaway shops.
Hate crimes that formed what has been described as a process of victimisation. Victims were targeted over prolonged periods of time and subjected to both verbal and physical abuse. Victims and offenders were often known to each other.
Hate crimes that were the culmination of ongoing complex, interpersonal disputes, often involving neighbours. Conflicts were exacerbated by poor living conditions, noisy music, poor disposal of refuge and other everyday activities.
Critics of restorative justice techniques often raise concerns about causing ‘re-victimisation’, but Dr Walters argues that these fears are largely unfounded. He says: “During the 18-month study, only one victim stated that they experienced a sense of re-victimisation during the restorative intervention. This aspect of restorative justice was very important to practitioners who worked hard to ensure participants were thoroughly prepared before any direct dialogue took place between victim and perpetrator, in order to avoid incidents of repeat victimisation.”
The book will receive an official launch at the House of Commons in June. Findings will be discussed at INHS’s inaugural conference – ‘Understanding Hate Crime: Research, policy and practice’ – which takes place on the University of Sussex campus on May 8 and 9.
