In this feature Professor Neil Chakraborti, criminologist and Director of the Centre for Hate Studies, discusses the release of a new short film by the University of Leicester which explores the impact of hate crime.
A decade on we have revisited our award-winning short film Harms of Hate.
In the sequel, Revisiting the Harms of Hate, I reconnect with original film participants and other victims of hate crime to assess how their experiences have been affected by a decade characterised by hostility, volatility and toxicity.
The film, funded by the Leverhulme Trust and produced by the University of Leicester video team, follows the lives of four individuals, all from Leicester, who have experienced hate as part of their daily lives.
Revisiting the Harms of Hate examines the ways in which people from different backgrounds can be affected by hostile behaviours. The film’s participants speak candidly about their own experiences, and discuss how these
experiences have left them feeling more fearful, more vulnerable and more aware of their own sense of ‘difference’
than ever before.
The consensus among the participants of the film is that the impacts of hate crime have worsened, and this speaks to the number of hate crimes recorded in England and Wales in the last ten years – which has more than tripled.
Throughout my career I have extensively researched hate crime, targeted hostility and violence against minorities.
Our research at the Centre for Hate Studies has highlighted the damaging impacts these factors can have and the alarming lack of effective support available for victims. This is all too evident within the human stories that are
showcased within the film. Hate incidents are encountered on a repeat basis by countless people from disadvantaged and disconnected communities, to the point where they become an unwanted but routine feature of living in a hostile climate.
The film premiered at Leicester’s Phoenix Cinema and Arts Centre on Wednesday 8 November 2023 as part of the 2023 Festival of Social Science, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.
At the event, before the film premiered, the Centre for Hate Studies recorded a live podcast episode of Hidden Hate featuring Alison Vincent, CEO of the Sophie Lancaster Foundation and Rose Simpkins, CEO of Stop Hate UK.
Together, we discussed the current landscape of hate, what has changed in recent years, and where we can go from here.
Our Deputy Director of the Centre for Hate Studies, Dr Amy Clarke, also interviewed some of our participants who
bravely shared their experiences of hate crime victimisation.
For more information visit:
le.ac.uk/hate-studies/our-vision/our-films
