An in-depth critique of the USA's dominant political and legal response to hate crime in the STUDIES IN CRIME AND PUBLIC POLICY series. The fallacious construction of hate crime epidemics by politicians and the media is considered, and it is argued that the laws created in response to such prejudicial views can be regarded as symbolic politics.

"At last, a book that thinks clearly and carefully about laws that have been too close to motherhood and apple pie to get the scrutiny they need. Hate Crimes shines with the authors' passion for justice, and its meticulously argued verdict ought to make even the staunchest supporters of hate-crimes laws think twice. This will--or should--be a touchstone for future debate."--Jonathan Rauch, author of Kindly Inquisitors: The New Attacks on Free Thought "Activists, pundits, and legislators who champion 'hate crime' laws will be hard-put to answer this stunning, caring book. Jacobs and Potter show how such laws may advance their sponsors' political status and moral self-importance yet diminish tolerance and justice. This definitive analysis will change the debate--and, let us hope, a sorry miscarriage of the law."--Jim Sleeper, author of Liberal Racism and The Closest of Strangers "This book brings careful scrutiny and sociological wisdom to a legal innovation that desperately needs it. The debate over hate crimes will never be the same."--Peter Schuck, Yale Law School "Jacobs and Potter rigorously and provocatively suggest that criminalizing prejudice, motivated by symbolic politics and moral outrage, may not be sensible criminal justice policy and, indeed, may worsen problems criminalization seeks to remedy. Hate Crimes: Criminal Law and Identity Politics is challenging and rewarding reading."--Stephen J. Morse, University of Pennsylvania Law School and University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine "This slim, well-written volume does the legal heavy lifting of many books five times its size...an essential guide to the origin, politics, and enforcement of hate crime laws."--The New York Times Book Review "adopt a skeptical, if not critical, stance maintaining that legal definitions of hate crimes are riddled with ambiguity and subjectivity"--The Literature of Criminal Justice, 1998-2001 "At last, a book that thinks clearly and carefully about laws that have been too close to motherhood and apple pie to get the scrutiny they need. Hate Crimes shines with the authors' passion for justice, and its meticulously argued verdict ought to make even the staunchest supporters of hate-crimes laws think twice. This will--or should--be a touchstone for future debate."--Jonathan Rauch, author of Kindly Inquisitors: The New Attacks on Free Thought "Activists, pundits, and legislators who champion 'hate crime' laws will be hard-put to answer this stunning, caring book. Jacobs and Potter show how such laws may advance their sponsors' political status and moral self-importance yet diminish tolerance and justice. This definitive analysis will change the debate--and, let us hope, a sorry miscarriage of the law."--Jim Sleeper, author of Liberal Racism and The Closest of Strangers "This book brings careful scrutiny and sociological wisdom to a legal innovation that desperately needs it. The debate over hate crimes will never be the same."--Peter Schuck, Yale Law School "Jacobs and Potter rigorously and provocatively suggest that criminalizing prejudice, motivated by symbolic politics and moral outrage, may not be sensible criminal justice policy and, indeed, may worsen problems criminalization seeks to remedy. Hate Crimes: Criminal Law and Identity Politics is challenging and rewarding reading."--Stephen J. Morse, University of Pennsylvania Law School and University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine "This slim, well-written volume does the legal heavy lifting of many books five times its size...an essential guide to the origin, politics, and enforcement of hate crime laws."--The New York Times Book Review "Where's the problem with the laws themselves? To that, Hate Crimes offers a wide-ranging response, and a number of its arguments hit the target."--Wall Street Journal "This excellent, well-written volume fills a real gap in the academic literature. It is comprehensive and willing to dissect the flawed enterprise of finding nobility in the pursuit of ignoble crimes...The authors' well-placed agnosticism on the overall enterprise of hate crimes, based on empirical studies, as well as the cultural minefields of multiculturalism, gives us, in the end, a powerful indictment of the new flavor of the day and a faith in one overarching principle of a neutral rule of law."--New York Law Journal "An important work which draws our attention to a serious issue....This book could make a vital resource for elected officials who may want to take a critical look at attempts to reform hate crime laws."--National Catholic Register

Offers a skeptical if not critical assessment of a topical issue--"hate crime" Fully explores the ties of both the people and the legislatures to this phenomenon Evaluates the socio-legal implications of laws rooted in identity politics

James B. Jacobs, Director of New York University's Center for Research in Crime and Justice, is Professor of Law at the NYU School of Law. Kimberly Potter, formerly a Senior Research Fellow at NYU's Center for Research in Crime and Justice, is now in private law practice in Bronxville, NY.

Offers a skeptical if not critical assessment of a topical issue--"hate crime" Fully explores the ties of both the people and the legislatures to this phenomenon Evaluates the socio-legal implications of laws rooted in identity politics