Irish people less comfortable with hate crime than other offences, study shows

Irish people would be far less comfortable with neighbours who had committed a criminal offence if they discovered hate crime was their motivation, new research to be presented to an Oireachtas Committee on Wednesday evening will show.

A study conducted by the University of Limerick found that just 13.5 per cent of the public would be very comfortable or comfortable living beside someone convicted of vandalism. However, that number was halved to just 7.7 per cent when the vandalism in question was linked to hate crime.

Researchers at UL believe the findings reflect the potential power of hate crime-specific laws and will set out their findings before the Oireachtas Justice Committee on Wednesday. It is currently considering the General Scheme of the Criminal Justice (Hate Crime) Bill 2021.

The survey findings, as well as other previously published research, will be presented by Professor Amanda Haynes and Dr Jennifer Schweppe, co-directors of the European Centre for the Study of Hate based at UL.

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Their poll conducted earlier this year had a representative sample of about 1,300 respondents and also showed similar results when the question was linked to employment.

Of those sampled, 14.6 per cent said they would be comfortable employing someone convicted of vandalism but, again, if hate crime was known to be a factor that number then shrank to just 6.7 per cent.

The purpose of the research was to gain a better understanding of the public's awareness and beliefs around hate crime in Ireland, where such offences currently fall under broader criminal law.

“It’s important because it shows us that there is an additional stigmatisation and potential exclusionary effect for people who are convicted of hate crime offences specifically,” said Prof Haynes.

“That’s really significant because it’s clear from this that the label of being a hate crime offender is something that will impact the degree to which somebody is accepted into society.”

Prof Haynes said that given the power of this “declaratory effect”, there is a need for care in how any future legislation is applied. The academics believe, based on their research, that such hate crime legislation is needed.

“We have consistently shown that the absence of hate crime legislation in Ireland has led to what we refer to as the ‘disappearing’ of the hate element of a crime through the criminal process,” Dr Schweppe explained.

“We have also found that courts have treated offences as racially aggravated in the absence of any evidence that racism was involved in the commission of the offence. In legislating against hate crime, we believe that we must take a cautious and incremental approach.”

The General Scheme of the Bill was published in April and followed the completion of the Legislating for Hate Speech and Hate Crime in Ireland – Report on the Public Consultation 2020. Following a period of pre-legislative scrutiny, it will be drafted by the Office of Parliamentary Counsel and other officials.