HATE CRIMES: THEORETICAL PARADIGM

Abstract

Hate crimes are criminal offences, often violent and destructive, where the perpetrator
is motivated by prejudice against the social group to which the victim belongs. Hate
crimes not only do great harm to the victims, but to society as a whole. Considering the
specifi c motive of commission and consequences of hate crimes, they have been distinguished
as a distinct type of crime, which is generally agreed upon in literature, and arguments
that corroborate it are more convincing that those disputing it. The solution of basic
conceptual issues paves the way to critically examine other dilemmas, which is not agreed
upon by all either in theory or practice. The paper concludes that despite the fact that hate
crimes have been the subject of research for more than two decades, it is still necessary to
critically examine the theoretical soundness and practical usability of this concept.