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Engendering Hate Crime Policy: Gender, the "Dilemma of Difference," and the Creation of Legal Subjects

NCJ Number
207233
Journal
Journal of Hate Studies Volume: 2 Issue: 1 Dated: August 8, 2003 Pages: 73-97
Author(s)
Valerie Jenness
Date Published
August 2003
Length
25 pages
Annotation
This article provides an overview of the place of gender in hate crime policy in the United States.
Abstract
The author first introduces the concept of "hate crime" as a politically determined and legislatively defined subset of criminal behavior. "Hate crime," the author argues, is a recent term used to label behavior that has occurred throughout history. The article then turns to a discussion of the various ways in which gender has or has not been featured in State and Federal legislators' response to bias-motivated violence in the United States. Within the social, political, and legal discourse in the United States, the author maintains that females have been treated as "second-class citizens," a prevalent perception that has led to bigotry and bias-motivated violence against females. The article discusses what feminist legal scholars refer to as "the dilemma of difference" that is inherent in hate-crime policy in the United States. This dilemma involves a choice between adopting policies that promote treating men and women equally under the law and policies that accommodate gender differences. In addressing bias-motivated violence that targets persons because of gender, gender differences clearly become the focus of the law. The author addresses how the dilemma of difference has been managed in the formulation of hate-crime policy in the United States, as it simultaneously addresses the ways in which gender is both distinct from and similar to other status provisions recognized in hate-crime law, i.e., race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc. 81 notes