Policing Hatred: Law Enforcement, Civil Rights, and Hate Crime

This volume explores the interaction of race and law enforcement in the controversial area of hate crime in the US. It is an ethnographic study of how hate crime law works in practice, from the perspective of those enforcing it. It examines the way the police handle bias crimes, and the power that members of law enforcement communities have to influence the social environment by determining whether a crime will be charged as a bias crime. Bell includes in her work the experience of detectives who are women, black, Latino and Asian American, exploring the impact of the racial identity of both the hate crime victim and the officers’ handling of bias crimes. The study addresses enforcers’ treatment of defendants’ First Amendment rights and debates the merits of special treatment for hate crimes. Ultimately, Bell argues for the importance of having the police diligently address even low level offenses such as vandalism, giving their devasting cumulative effects on society.