In contrast to the decline in overall police-reported crime, overall, hate crimes are on the rise in many areas in Canada, including British Columbia. This increase has provided a sense of urgency in the search for appropriate and effective responses to hate incidents and hate crime. Although there is a legal framework for addressing hate crimes, there are several drawbacks and complications
surrounding this approach. For example, victims of hate crimes often do not want to go through the formal criminal justice process, but still want redress for their victimization. Also, the criminal justice system is not well suited to bring the broader community into the process. This is a notable problem with hate crimes, which very much impacts communities, and which require community
assistance in healing the trauma produced by hate. Moreover, exposure to the formal criminal justice system may not be the best way to educate and try to prevent further hate incidents for many perpetrators of hate crime. Finally, the criminal justice framework in place for hate crimes is currently being underutilized in many cases because of a lack of understanding on the parts of
police officers and Crown Counsel. For all these reasons, the focus of this report is on approaches to hate crime that are situated outside of the criminal justice system, referred to generally as noncriminal responses.
Centre for Public Safety and Criminal Justice Research
