Hate Crimes: 5 volumes

by Barbara Perry

Hate crimes continue to be a pervasive problem in the United States. The murder of Matthew Shepard, the lynching of James Byrd, the murderous rampage of Benjamin Smith, and anti-Muslim violence remind us that incidence of deadly bigotry is not only a recurring chapter in U.S. history, but also a part of our present-day world. Contrary to common belief, hate mongers who commit crimes are rarely members of the Ku Klux Klan or a skinhead group. In fact, fewer than 5 percent of identifiable offenders are members of organized hate groups. Yet rather than being an individual crime, hate crime represents an assault against all members of stigmatized and marginalized communities. To fully understand the phenomenon of hate crime and reduce its incidence, it is necessary to clearly define the term itself, to examine the victims and the offenders, and to evaluate the consequences and harms of hate crimes. This comprehensive five-volume set carefully addresses the disturbing variety and incidence of hate crimes, exposing their impacts on the broader realms of crime, punishment, individual communities, and society. The contributing authors and editors pay critical attention to cutting-edge topics such as online hate crimes, hate-based music, anti-Latino hostilities, Islamaphobia, hate crimes in the War on Terror, school-based anti-hate initiatives, and more. The final volume of Hate Crimes provides valuable food for thought on possible legislative, educational, social policy, or community organizational responses to the varied forms of hate crime.

1200 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Barbara Perry, PhD is a Professor in the Faculty of Social Science and Humanities at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology. She has written extensively on social justice generally, and hate crime specifically. She has published several books spanning both areas, including:

Diversity, Crime and Justice in Canada
In the Name of Hate: Understanding Hate Crime
She has also published in the area of Native American victimization and social control, including the books The Silent Victims: Native American Victims of Hate Crime, and Policing Race and Place: Under- and Over-enforcement in Indian Country. Both books were based on interviews with Native Americans (University of Arizona Press). She was the General Editor of a five-volume set on hate crime (Praeger), and editor of Volume 3: Victims of Hate Crime of that set. Her work has been published in a number of journals that represent diverse disciplines, including:

American Indian Quarterly
Journal of History and Politics
Journal of Social and Behavioral Sciences
Theoretical Criminology
Dr. Perry continues to work in the area of hate crime, and has begun to make contributions to the limited scholarship on hate crime in Canada, including work on anti-Muslim violence, hate crime against LGBTQ communities, the community impacts of hate crime, and right-wing extremism in Canada.