From slave abuse to hate crime : the criminalization of racial violence in American history / Ely Aaronson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Aaronson, Ely, 1973- author.

Series:

Cambridge historical studies in American law and society

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

African Americans--Crimes against--History.

African Americans.

Hate crimes--United States--History.

Hate crimes.

Violence--United States--History.

Violence.

Violent crimes.

History.

African Americans--Crimes against.

United States.

Violent crimes--United States--History.

United States--Race relations--History.

Race relations.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xiii, 205 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2014.

Summary:

"This book explores the complex ways in which political debates and legal reforms regarding the criminalization of racial violence have shaped the development of American racial history. Spanning previous campaigns for criminalizing slave abuse, lynching, and Klan violence and contemporary debates about the legal response to hate crimes, this book reveals both continuity and change in terms of the political forces underpinning the enactment of new laws regarding racial violence in different periods and of the social and institutional problems that hinder the effective enforcement of these laws. A thought-provoking analysis of how criminal law reflects and constructs social norms, this book offers a new historical and theoretical perspective for analyzing the limits of current attempts to use criminal legislation as a weapon against racism"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: 1. Towards a historical and sociological analysis of the criminalization of racial violence; 2. Progressive criminalization at the heart of darkness?: The legal response to the victimization of slaves in the colonial and antebellum South; 3. 'Social equality is not a subject to be legislated upon': the rise and fall of federal pro-black criminalization policy, 1865-1909; 4. 'We bring it out in the open, where it can be seen and dealt with': campaigning for criminalization reform in the long civil rights movement, 1909-1968; 5. Criminalizing racial hatred, legitimizing racial inequality: hate-crime laws and the new politics of pro-black criminalization; 6. Conclusion: criminalization reform and egalitarian social change

an uneasy relationship.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Includes index.

ISBN:

9781107026896

110702689X

9781107608542

1107608546

OCLC:

881418212

Online:

Cover image