Nicole Asquith builds research partnerships with London’s Met Police and Crown Prosecution Service
Whilst in the UK for the finalisation of her research with the London Metropolitan Police Service on verbal-textual hostility and hate crime, Nicole also met with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to discuss how prosecutors use linguistic evidence (such as verbal-textual hostility) to prove hate crime motivation and aggravation. In addition to building new research collaborations with the CPS on prosecuting hate crime, Nicole also discussed the CPS’ responses to honour-based violence in relation to her findings on intrafamilial hate crimes against gay men and lesbians. This latter work was presented to the 2013 British Society of Criminology conference in Wolverhampton, and will be central to her forthcoming publication, ‘The Dishonourable Construction of Honour-Based Violence’.
Abstract for BSC Presentation:
Popular representations of hate crime are commonly framed by the notion of ‘stranger danger’, and while more contemporary research has identified the everyday nature of this victimisation (Moran, 2007, Mason, 2005; Iganski, 2008; Perry & Alvi, 2011), there remains a gap in relation to intrafamilial hate crime. In addition to being more violent, hate violence against sexual and gender diverse communities is also more likely than other forms of hate crime to be perpetrated by immediate family members. This paper identifies the key characteristics of reported violence against gay men and lesbians, and critically examines the force and effects of intrafamilial hate crime. These data are drawn from the findings of a five-year study of hate crime incidents reported to the London Metropolitan Police Service between 2003 and 2007. Traditional models for understanding the motivation of hate crime offenders do not capture the intimate nature of this form of victimisation, where the motivation is not thrill or excitement, defence, retaliation or mission (McDevitt et al., 2002). In this paper, we propose that intrafamilial hate crime is better understood as an expression of honour-based violence. As with others who experience honour-based violence, gay men and lesbians are often thought to bring the family or community into disrepute for simply infringing heteronormative norms and values. Employing strategies across the continuum of violence, intrafamilial hate crime aims to punish these transgressions (including the use of ‘corrective rape’), reinstate heteronormative behaviour, safeguard the family honour and ‘save face’.