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VICTIMIZED
The term ‘hate crime' is a catch-all to combat intolerance towards communities or societies within a bigger society. A specific ‘hate crime' would be a race crime, but then there has to be something specific to make it racially motivated. If we see a white man with BNP written across his chest while he's beating a black person we're going to assume it's racially motivated but in reality that still wouldn't mean he would be charged with a ‘hate crime'. It could be ABH/GBH or common assault. Some judges take ‘hate crimes' into account and can actually tack an extra two years on top of a sentence. A lot of the time, it won't make the amount of difference that we'd like to see.
Outside of crimes committed to people of a different race, faith or sexual orientation—things like crimes against goths—you have to realise that we can't legislate for every subculture.
Throughout the UK there were 3,116 total hate crime convictions in 2002/2003. Only 18 of these (less than 1%) were "religiously motivated crimes". The total number is up 15 % over last year.
DS ANDY FLEMING
TOWER HAMLETS POLICE
COMMUNITY SAFETY UNIT
Photography:
Derrick Santini
Photography Assistance:
Linus Lucas
Fashion:
Colin Martin |
Tony:
I was 14-years-old and coming back from an SNFU show at Fulham Greyhound. I was wearing a checked shirt, 7 Seconds shirt and I had a shaved head with longer bits on top. I think I had ripped up jeans with DRI painted on one leg and the Minor Threat sheep on the other one. These lads just come past and one of them said: "Did you tell me to fuck off?" Then four more appear and six of them surround us. One of them said: "I don't like blokes with big mouths and stupid hair" and then one blindsides me—the punch closes my eye, breaks my nose, busts my lip and chips my tooth in one punch. Then I got kicked to fuck. When things like this happen when you're young, it cements the relationship to whatever you're into and makes you more attached to the reason why you were beaten up.
Verdict:
Borderline hate crime.
T-shirt and ring by Tenderloin, cut-offs by Jungle, belt by Go-Hill (Camden), Hi-tops by PF Flyers
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Alex
I get abuse on a daily basis. It's normally verbal abuse then they spit in my face. A year and a half ago I was attacked by six Bangladeshi men. I was attacked from the back and kicked in the head so many times that they left me for dead on Bethnal Green Road. The ambulance staff thought I was a drunken prostitute who'd been beaten up by a client. The more I tried to tell I had been attacked, the more they tried to restrain me and put me in an arm lock. He was a martial arts expert and cracked one of my ribs. Then the other ambulance worker was kicking me in the stomach and broke another rib. They called the police saying I had assaulted an ambulance crew. I then got taken to the police station where they made me strip naked. They were saying "You're a man with tits, you're disgusting". It took months to recover from the attack. My head still hurts. It comes from the gang infested estate. They say: "You're a fucking man" or "fucking shemale". Disgusting things like that. I also had a gun pointed at my head from one of them who said I had to change.
Verdict:
Hate crime.
Jacket by Ink&Paint, jeans by Frost French, shoes by Puma
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David Viner
Last year, for some weird reason, I was bombarded with Nazi connotations for a whole week. It started off with somebody walking up to me in a bar and giving me a Nazi flag and a death threat. It set my mind off, because for the whole next week later, the TV seemed to be full of programmes about Nazis and I kept seeing swastikas drawn all over the place. It all ended up with these three guys jumping me. One said something insulting about Golders Green being the Jewish capital of the world so I threw a rock at him. It missed so the three of them beat me up. Recently, my dad was in McDonalds in the West End and somebody wrote "4x2" (aka JEW) in big felt tip on his back.
Verdict:
Hate crime.
Jacket by Fred Perry, trousers by Gsus, hi-tops by Tretom @ size?
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Nevus
I've got a stutter and I all through my childhood I was abused for that. They would say "Has a cat got your tongue?", "Why can't you talk properly?" and then sometimes they'd hit me too. All the time I felt like fighting or crying. I felt upset, cross and mad.
It happened in school, at college and on the street. Once a boy was doing it so I hit him and he beat me up really badly. I had a bleeding nose. I started learning weight training, karate and kickboxing and now none of them ever say anything to me at all.
Verdict:
This is more like bullying.
Jumper by Limehaus, T-shirt by Diesel, trousers by Fred Perry
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Julie
I grew up a teenage goth in Workington, Cumbria, and always got verbal abuse for the black hair, the make-up and the clothes. One day I was walking through town, about six 18-20-year-old men started shouting things at me and then chased after me. I tried to run away but I was wearing a long frock and heels. I ran into a local newsagent and they started throwing books and A4 folders at me. I ran out of there to where my mum was parked but they got hold of me and beat me up between the cars while my mum watched. A few years later I was living in Salford and was walking from my flat to the other side of the precinct when I was jumped by a gang of 16-18-year-old lads on mountain bikes. They pushed me to the floor and kicked me. I got broken ribs, split lip, dragged around on the floor by my hair. These women came out of the community centre to help me and I can remember this giant pit bull called Chelsea licking the blood off my leg.
Verdict:
Even though the police don't have any ‘anti-goth' laws, this still qualifies as a hate crime.
Top by Aurora Borealis, trousers by H&M, trainers by Puma
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David
I was walking home across Clapham Common very late one night. You could argue that walking across Clapham Common late at night was stupid in itself but on the other hand you can hardly say I was asking for it either. They came out of nowhere. One was behind me and hit me in the back of the knees so I curled up to protect my head. I remember thinking two things: one, that they were going to kill me by accident, and two, I remember the sound of the lumps of wood swishing through the air, sounding almost like music. When they were finished, they made a big show of wanting to see me staggering off, like it was theatre. At the hospital I discovered all the ligaments in both hands were torn. I had pins put in my hands. Actually, the whole aftermath was worse than the actual thing. The police were absolutely useless. The criminal compensation people were useless and ham-fisted to a laughable degree. All the things that followed afterwards were worse and harder to understand and forgive. I have feelings of really extreme anger when I think about it now. I think how close it is to what happened last night (Oct. 30, 2004, when a gay man was beaten to death on London's South Bank) and how I was just a hair's breadth away from being murdered as well.
Verdict:
New figures say gaybashing is the fastest-growing hate crime in the UK.
Hooded top by Limehaus, trousers by Siv Stoldal, gloves by Lilywhites, Hi-tops by Converse @ size?
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