This collection of essays focuses on law and society research examining how police manage the job put to them and the extent to which the law figures in what they do. In step with law and society scholarship, many of the articles are empirical explorations of the ways in which law enforcement workson the ground in a variety of policing contexts ranging from patrol to police interrogation. The collection also includes an introduction outlining the broad scope of police research across the socio-legal tradition as well as a selection of essays evaluating police discretion in the areas of race and gender.

"Readable and interesting...a fine work that offers fresh insights into how the police enforce hate crime laws."
--"Law and Politics Book Review"

"This useful and timely book deals with the ethnographic basis of hate crime."
-- "Choice"

"A very well written analysis of the process of enforcing hate crimes. Policing Hatred illuminates basic matters of policing in a democratic society-balancing victimsa rights versus the rights of suspects, the role of public ignorance and political pressure on police work, and the quite striking decency of these investigators. . . . Will be a amust reada for all social scientists interested in hate crime as well as scholars in criminal justice, law, sociology, and political science in the area of police studies."
--Peter K. Manning, Brooks Chair of Policing and Criminal Justice, College of Criminal Justice, Northeastern University

Policing Hatred explores the intersection of race and law enforcement in the controversial area of hate crime. The nationas attention has recently been focused on high-profile hate crimes such as the dragging death of James Byrd and the torture-murder of Matthew Shepard. This book calls attention to the thousands of other individuals who each year are attacked because of their race, religion, or sexual orientation. The study of hate crimes challenges common assumptions regarding perpetrators and victims: most of the accused tend to be white, while most of their victims are not.

Policing Hatred is an in-depth ethnographic study of how hate crime law works in practice, from the perspective of those enforcing it. It examines the ways in which the police handle bias crimes, and the social impact of thoseefforts. Bell exposes the power that law enforcement personnel have to influence the social environment by showing how they determine whether an incident will be charged as a bias crime.

Drawing on her unprecedented access to a police hate crime unit, Bellas work brings to life the stories of female, Black, Latino, and Asian American detectives, in addition to those of their white male counterparts. Policing Hatred also explores the impact of victimas identity on each officers handling of bias crimes and addresses how the police treat defendantsa First Amendment rights. Bellas vivid evidence from the field argues persuasively for the need to have the police diligently address even low-level offenses, such as vandalism, given their devastating cumulative effects on society.

Examines the role violence plays in maintaining housing segregation Despite increasing racial tolerance and national diversity, neighborhood segregation remains a very real problem in cities across America. Scholars, government officials, and the general public have long attempted to understand why segregation persists despite efforts to combat it, traditionally focusing on the issue of "white flight," or the idea that white residents will move to other areas if their neighborhood becomes integrated. In Hate Thy Neighbor, Jeannine Bell expands upon these understandings by investigating a little-examined but surprisingly prevalent problem of "move-in violence:" the anti-integration violence directed by white residents at minorities who move into their neighborhoods. Apprehensive about their new neighbors and worried about declining property values, these residents resort to extra-legal violence and intimidation tactics, often using vandalism and verbal harassment to combat what they view as a violation of their territory. Hate Thy Neighbor is the first work to seriously examine the role violence plays in maintaining housing segregation, illustrating how intimidation and fear are employed to force minorities back into separate neighborhoods and prevent meaningful integration. Drawing on evidence that includes in-depth interviews with ordinary citizens and analysis of Fair Housing Act cases, Bell provides a moving examination of how neighborhood racial violence is enabled today and how it harms not only the victims, but entire communities. By finally shedding light on this disturbing phenomenon, Hate Thy Neighbor not only enhances our understanding of how prevalent segregation and this type of hate-crime remain, but also offers insightful analysis of a complex mix of remedies that can work to address this difficult problem.

"Readable and interesting...a fine work that offers fresh insights into how the police enforce hate crime laws."
--"Law and Politics Book Review"

"This useful and timely book deals with the ethnographic basis of hate crime."
-- "Choice"

"A very well written analysis of the process of enforcing hate crimes. Policing Hatred illuminates basic matters of policing in a democratic society-balancing victimsa rights versus the rights of suspects, the role of public ignorance and political pressure on police work, and the quite striking decency of these investigators. . . . Will be a amust reada for all social scientists interested in hate crime as well as scholars in criminal justice, law, sociology, and political science in the area of police studies."
--Peter K. Manning, Brooks Chair of Policing and Criminal Justice, College of Criminal Justice, Northeastern University

Policing Hatred explores the intersection of race and law enforcement in the controversial area of hate crime. The nationas attention has recently been focused on high-profile hate crimes such as the dragging death of James Byrd and the torture-murder of Matthew Shepard. This book calls attention to the thousands of other individuals who each year are attacked because of their race, religion, or sexual orientation. The study of hate crimes challenges common assumptions regarding perpetrators and victims: most of the accused tend to be white, while most of their victims are not.

Policing Hatred is an in-depth ethnographic study of how hate crime law works in practice, from the perspective of those enforcing it. It examines the ways in which the police handle bias crimes, and the social impact of thoseefforts. Bell exposes the power that law enforcement personnel have to influence the social environment by showing how they determine whether an incident will be charged as a bias crime.

Drawing on her unprecedented access to a police hate crime unit, Bellas work brings to life the stories of female, Black, Latino, and Asian American detectives, in addition to those of their white male counterparts. Policing Hatred also explores the impact of victimas identity on each officers handling of bias crimes and addresses how the police treat defendantsa First Amendment rights. Bellas vivid evidence from the field argues persuasively for the need to have the police diligently address even low-level offenses, such as vandalism, given their devastating cumulative effects on society.