Figurehead Hate Crime Cases: Developing a Preliminary Model and Exposing the ‘Problem’ with ‘Disability’

• In Event: Reporting and Recognizing Hate Crimes

Abstract

The horrific stories of James Byrd, Matthew Shepard and Stephen Lawrence are forever etched in criminal law. In each of these cases, activists, family members, politicians, academics, the public and media all reacted in their unique way to bring the problem of ‘hate crime’ onto the agenda. While social movements have brought the issue of minority rights onto the political agenda, and brought in an array of protections such as hate crime law, figurehead cases can also initiate (or renew) public discussion about our responses to this form of violence. Many figurehead cases have represented the precipitous tipping point at which criminal justice and broader public recognition is delivered. These cases have become crystallised within our social memory, yet the role they play—and the factors pertinent to figurehead recognition—remain under-explored within hate crime scholarship. Using a case study analysis, three racist and heterosexist hate crime cases are autopsied in order to assess the individual, social, cultural and institutional conditions that facilitated their place on the public agenda. This analysis has important implications for the category of ‘disability’, and highlights several shortcomings that forestall the recognition of ‘disablist hate crime’ publicly, legislatively, and judicially.

Authors

• Ryan Thorneycroft, Western Sydney University

• Nicole L. Asquith, Western Sydney University