Introduction

Two decades after the watershed murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence in 1993, expansions in UK hate crime scholarship and activism have significantly heightened awareness of, and responses to, varied forms of minority victimisation. Scholars and activists working in this area have done much to affect social, legal and political change, addressing the issue of ‘hate’ from both a theoretical (scholarship) and practical (activism) approach. The design and delivery of effective legislative and policy responses to hate crime also involves consultation and interaction with other ‘active’ stakeholders such as community representatives or laypersons who may have a personal, rather than professional or political, interest in this area.

This chapter evaluates collaborative engagements between criminal justice agents, community voluntary workers, public servants and lay citizens of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGB&T) communities in South Yorkshire. An annual average of 61 homophobic and 4 transphobic hate crimes were recorded by South Yorkshire Police (SYP) between 2008 and 2012. As a result, SYP employ several hate crime prevention and response strategies. These include having dedicated hate crime operational and lead officers, a hate crimes working group, a hate crimes multi-agency group (involving public authorities as well as statutory agencies), independent advisory groups, involvement with hate crime scrutiny panels, operating third party reporting centres, co-ordinating Safer Neighbourhood teams (and within these the community engagement officers), and facilitating wider educational and awareness campaigns to shape hate crime policy across all strands. The chapter draws on the author's involvement in, and reflective participant observation of, a South Yorkshire LGB&T independent advisory group and a hate crimes scrutiny panel over a period of between one and three years. These reflections are supplemented with an interview undertaken with Sarah, a detective inspector at SYP and SYP hate crime strategy lead, which provides a statutory perspective on the observed avenues of interaction.

The analysis illustrates how historical criticisms about the treatment of LGB&T communities by the criminal justice system has affected new and inclusive working relationships under a shared aim of reducing hate crime. It demonstrates the necessity for knowledge exchange and transfer, particularly with regards to marginalised or less visible groups, or ‘minorities within minorities’.